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THE FUTURE LIFE i 



OR, 



IMMOKTALITY, 






AS 



REVEALED IN THE BIBLE. 









BY JEROME HARRIS. 



PORTLAND: 
S. H. COLESWORTHY. 
1849. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1849, 

By JEROME HARRIS, 
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Maine. 



PRINTED BY C. W. PENNELL & CO., 
65 & 69, Exchange Street , Portland. 



r- ' 'r:r 



I The. Library 
of Congress 



WASHINGTON 



PREFACE 

The subject of the following pages is fraught with the most 
thrilling interest; and is acknowledged by all, whether believer 
or unbeliever, to be of the most solemn importance, worthy of 
the profoundest attention of every individual ; and involving, 
as it does, the destiny of man and the hope of immortality, it 
requires and has commanded the minds and pens of the ablest 
philosophers and most learned divines. Yet, after all, much 
labor is required to extract the true from among the false, and 
to place it in a tangible form before the popular mind. Though 
in most cases it requires great minds to discover truth, yet after 
it has been discovered, minds, claiming but few of the elements 
of greatness, may perhaps do the world as great a service, by 
gathering it up and arranging it in a popular form, as they who 
first discovered it. 

It is usual, however, for those who write or prepare books 
for publication, feeling that they have advanced but little that 
was unknown to the public before, to offer apologies for pre- 
senting the world with their speculations ; but the reason 1 am 
disposed to give for publishing my views of the Future Life is, 
that such a work is needed. The experience of every preacher 
tells him that something more than has been given is demanded, 
to satisfy a great many minds on that subject; and by supplying 
this demand, 1 hope to do something fox truth and human 
happiness, Much, indeed, has been written, but no one book 



IV PREFACE. 

contains what seems to be required. I have gathered from all 
within my search what would subserve my purpose, and have 
employed it as best I could. 

During the period of my ministry, I have been questioned 
more in relation to the Resurrection of the dead, than any other 
subject within the whole range of theology ; and nothing has 
been more difficult to answer, than some of the questions 
which have been put to me. At first I was greatly perplexed 
and embarrassed. I sought assistance from others, and receiv- 
ed but little. But, believing that there was truth in the Bible, 
on the subject, I went to work in good earnest to find it, and in 
due time I obtained that which was satisfactory to my own 
mind. I presented it to others and it satisfied them. And as 
the church and society with which I am now connected, were 
somewhat disturbed by conflicting sentiments on the Doctrine 
of the Resurrection of the dead, when I commenced my labors 
with them, I collected a variety of materials, with the deter- 
mination to digest and arrange them, and at some future day, 
publish them in the form of a book. But the cares and duties 
of a clergyman, settled over a society scattered over considera- 
ble territory, and other labors which may not now be mention- 
ed, have prevented the accomplishment of the work according 
to the first design. I have not been able to digest and dispose 
of all the materials collected as I could wish; but as there is 
really a great demand for a work on the Resurrection of the 
dead, and as my views seem to meet the wants of those who 
have examined them, I have concluded to publish them without 
ilirther delay. 

1 have selected from the Universalist Quarterly, and from 
Professor Bush's work on the Resurrection, the matter which 



PREFACE. V 

composes chapters III., V. and VI. of this book. The articles 
in the Quarterly, from which this matter was taken, were origi- 
nally written by Dr. Ballou and Rev. R. O. Williams. The 
truths of these articles are worthy of a wider circulation than 
they could possibly have as first published, and I know not as 
they could be better presented were they clothed in different 
language. 

In the following pages, the different theories of the Resur- 
rection of the dead, which have been broached, are carefully 
considered ; the passages of Scripture, which have been usually 
adduced as proof of a bodily and simultaneous resurrection, 
are examined and explained ; and I have aimed to render every 
sentence perspicuous and level to the understanding of the 
attentive reader. I have not attempted to make any rhetorical 
displays ; and, as far as possible, have avoided referring to the 
Greek language, and using foreign terms and phrases. I am 
fully confident that the leading sentiments advanced in this 
work are true ; yet, doubtless, there are many errors in style 
and arrangement. But if it shall be instrumental in dispelling 
darkness, even from a few minds, and in giving them clear 
views of the Future Life, I shall feel that some good has been 

done, and be satisfied. 

1* 



CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER I. 

DEATH THE KING OF TERRORS. 

Our feelings in relation to it — Death the king of terrors — 
The pain of dying not the reason why it is thus called — The 
thought of annihilation terrible — A strong love of life makes 
men strive to banish the thoughts of death from their minds — 
Very difficult to impress them with its reality — Love of life a 
proof of immortality — But what saith the Bible — To that the 
appeal must be made — The language of dying believers — 
To learn all the sentiments of the Bible not a light task. p. 13 

CHAPTER II. 

EXAMINATION OF THE EMANATION THEORY. 

The souls of men are emanations from God — They enter 
human bodies pure, and are never contaminated by sin — The 
body is the source of iniquity — When the body dies, the spirit 
returns to God and is absorbed in Him — If this theory be true, 
then is annihilation true also — Sin has no existence in fact — 
Christ no Saviour — Death all the Saviour men need — The 
Bible does not teach that the spirit of man is an emanation 
from God — It was created as were the heavens and the earth — 
Neither does the Bible teach that it will be finally submerged in 
the bosom of the Eternal Spirit — The soul has a higher des- 
tiny than this. p. 27 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER III. 

FLESH, BLOOD, &c, AS THE CAUSE OF SIN. 

"Flesh and blood" sometimes denote men living in this 
world — They are often used metaphorically and denote sinful 
affections — Their meaning frequently misunderstood — They 
occupy a large place in the writings of St. Paul — His mode of 
expressing his views of them probably grew out of some phi- 
losophical formula — He does not mean that sin is confined to 
the body alone — He regards the spirit of man as the seat of sin 
also — The representations of phrenological writers — The 
body or the flesh not necessarily sinful — It would have no con- 
nection with sin, did not the mind yield to its impulses and sug- 
gestions — Every species of sin not necessarily connected with 
the material body. p. 36 

CHAPTER IV. 

MATERIALISM. 

The tendency of many minds towards materialism — The 
theory of materialists unphilosophical — Consciousness pre- 
cludes the necessity of argument — We are conscious that what 
we call the self ox me, is no part of our material organization — 
The fact that the mind seems to grow and decline with the 
body does not prove the materiality of the former — The differ- 
ence between the brute mind and human mind. p. 55 

CHAPTER V. 

RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 

The body constantly undergoing change — A man at seventy 
has had ten different bodies — Which of them will be raised 
from the dead ? — Pearson on the creed — The body falls into 
the earth and enriches it, out of which vegetables grow — If it 
is ever gathered and reconstructed, it will be needful that the 
decomposition of the whole vegetable and animal world take 



CONTENTS. IX 

place — Poets sometimes speak of the resurrection of the body, 
but it is unscriptural and unphilosopical — Not a particle of mat- 
ter, that composed bodies which were laid in their graves thou- 
sands of years since, can be found there now — What propriety 
is there in saying that they will come out of their graves at the 
resurrection ? — Not expected that all the body will be raised — 
enough of its dust will be found in the grave for a nucleus of 
the reconstructed fabric — The vegetable world analogically 
considered — So also the animal kingdom — There are a great 
variety of shades of belief on the subject — The general im- 
pression is that the last body, or the body which is consigned to 
the grave, is the one that will be raised — This supposition is 
beset with insuperable difficulties. p. 64 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

Some deny the immortality of the soul but believe that all 
men will be raised to immortality after they have slept ages in 
unconsciousness — The records of antiquity bear plainly upon 
their face the doctrine of the soul's immortality — No nation, 
ancient or modern, civilized or savage, has ever existed without 
some fhith in the future life — Whence was it derived ? — Some 
say from impostors — This not the fact — The Bible takes 
some things for granted — The writings of Moses do not assert 
in so many words that there is a God — The fact is assumed as 
though all would admit it — The existence of angels is assum- 
ed in the same way — Moses and the prophets hold out the idea 
that there is something in man that does live beyond the death 
of the body — It is inculcated in all those passages which speak 
of the dead as sleeping with their fathers — The Jewish views 
of Sheol, and the Scriptural references to that subject, afford 
farther evidence that the sacred writers recognized the exist- 
ence of the soul after leaving the body — Another evidence of 
the same truth in the Old Testament, is derived from the use 
of the words which are rendered life, breath, soul, and spirit — 
We must go to the Christian records to obtain a full and clear 
view of the future life. p. 95 



X CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VII. 

AJN EXAMINATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 
Job 19 : 25, 26, 27 — Isaiah 26 : 19 — Daniel 12 : 2. p. 137 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST. 

Nothing is plainer taught in the New Testament than this 
event — The time of its taking place was plainly pointed out — 
The coming of Christ a progressive event — It is called by the 
inspired writers the last day — The Old Covenant was to be 
destroyed near or at the commencement of the last day — This 
event was called the end of the world — The last day is spoken 
of by the New Testament writers as a resurrection day — The 
last day in the Scriptures to be a judgment day. p. 159 

CHAPTER IX. 

EXAMINATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 

II, Timothy 4: 5-— 8 — Matthew 10: 28— Matthew 5: 29, 
30 — Matthew 27: 50, 53— John II: 23, 24— Acts 2: 34. 

p. 184 
CHAPTER X. 

THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST* 

The denial of the resurrection of Christ's body unreasonable 
and unscriptural — Christ's material body not the pattern of 
the resurrection bodies of other men, admitting it was raised 
from the dead — Not necessary to suppose it went into immor- 
tality — It could be dispersed into primary elements at his 
ascension — The resurrection of Christ's body not designed to 
prove the resurrection of any other bodies — The object of 
Christ's resurrection was to prove the divinity of his mission, 



CONTENTS. XI 

and consequently of all the truth he taught — The New Testa- 
ment writers testify to this fact — It has had a powerful influ- 
ence in the moral elevation of the world. p. 221 

CHAPTER XI. 

AN EXAMINATION OF I. COR1JMTHIAJNS XV; 

Some of the Corinthian Church denied the resurrection of 
the dead — Paul's object in this chapter was, to correct this 
error — He adduces the resurrection of Christ as evidence of 
the resurrection of all men — Christ stood before the world as 
a pre-eminent proof of this — During his mediatorial reign, his 
disciples who had proved faithful unto death should stand aext 
in rank, as evidence of the same fact — The reign of Christ and 
the result — The question, how are the dead raised up, answer- 
ed — The phrase, "we shall not all sleep 3 ' examined — The 
word resurrection means future life — Objections considered — 
I. Thessalonians 4 : 13 — 18, explained in connection with 
this chapter. p. 233 

CHAPTER XII. 

CONCLUSION. 

Men die sinners — Death works no moral change — Why 
then, believe in the salvation of all men ? — The promises of 
God which embrace the mission of Christ, the foundation of 
our faith — All men desire happiness — It is promised them — 
Moral and intellectual excellence constitutes all true happiness — 
Though death cannot confer these, yet the change of circum- 
stances and condition, which is effected by death, will induce 
the individual to choose them — The body does not go into the 
immortal state — The principles of the Gospel of Christ do go 
there — And they can never cease to operate as long as there is 
a sinner in existence — Consequently all men must finally be 
brought to the knowledge of the truth and be saved. p. 270 



THE FUTURE LIFE; 



OR, IMMORTALITY AS REVEALED IN THE BIBLE. 



CHAPTER I. 
DEATH THE KING OF TERRORS. 

As the habits, sentiments, circumstances, and edu- 
cation of men are various, their feelings must vary in 
intenseness on any given subject ; and, hence, the 
thoughts of death must excite very different feelings 
in different individuals. The patriarch Jacob, when 
his days were nearly numbered, and he felt the icy 
fingers of death upon his vitals, and realized that he 
must speedily go from all the scenes of mortal conflict, 
said to his most beloved son, " Behold I die," What 
his feelings were, at that period of thrilling interest, 
none can know but himself and that Great Being, 
who seeth and knoweth all. What are the emotions 
and thoughts, which gather around the last point of 
human existence, none can fully know till they arrive 
there. 

Nevertheless, we are all somewhat acquainted with 
the sad circumstances which usually attend the last 
hours of the dying ; and we have all felt the fearful 
sensations, roused by the grim shadows that linger 

2 



14 DEATH THE KiiNG OF TERRORS. 

around the bed of death. We are, necessarily, fa- 
miliar with the dread accompaniments of sickness 
and death ; for they are on all sides of us. Now, 
we hear deep groans and suppressed sighs ; we see 
gasps and struggles, and dark shades go over emaciated 
features, and sunken eyes suddenly glared and fixed 
in darkness. The limbs are now gradually becoming 
cold, stiff, and motionless ; and insensibility has crept 
over the whole frame, and the pallid corpse hears not 
the wailings of sorrow that fill the air around it. 
Now the scene shifts, and we behold the shroud, the 
coffin, the open grave, and hear the gravel rattle in 
the narrow dwelling, and then see the green sods 
placed upon that gravel, and, after a few ceremonies 
are performed, the agitating occurrences of death 
seem to be forgotten by the multitude. But they are 
not ; they are so momentous in their import, they 
cannot fail to impress us, for a short season, at least, 
with awe — to terrify even the most giddy and reck- 
less, and make them shudder at the thought that they 
must soon meet the iron embrace of the pale king. 

Death has always had power to fill the unregenerate 
heart with fear. He has long been termed the king 
of terrors. But why has he been thus denominated ? 
Did the pains, which usually attend the hour of disso- 
lution, induce the world to crown him king of terrors ? 
No ; we have reason to believe, from many and va- 
rious considerations, that these pains are slight and of 
short duration, and that many a one has suffered more 
from injuries done their systems and recovered their 
health, than is ever inflicted by the hand of death. 



DEATH THE KllNG OF TERRORS. 15 

Dr. William Hunter, who had seen as much of death's 
doings as almost any other man, said to a friend in 
his last, moments, "Would that I were able, and I 
would write how easy and pleasant a thing it is to 
die." We are told by those who have had the best 
means of knowing something about this matter, that 
all the exhibitions of mortal ajony are not real ; they 
only seem to be such ; and even the convulsive agita- 
tions, so often manifest, give no real evidence that the 
subject thereof is experiencing much physical pain ; 
they are similar in character to epileptic spasms, 
which, as is well known, are produced in total insen- 
sibility ; and, therefore, are not to be taken as proof 
of suffering in the least degree. The mere pain of 
dying, then, is not of all things the most terrible ; and 
this is not what makes death the king of terrors. The 
thought of being deal — the thought of utter destruc- 
tion — is indeed terrible. The idea of being swept 
into eternal oblivion is painful in the extreme. To 
feel that when a few more years, at most, shall have 
passed away, our whole being will be extinguished, 
totally extinguished, is chilling to the soul, and is 
enough to tear r rom us every pleasure, which present 
blessings are calculated to afford. 

"A long, long, silent, dark, oblivious sleep, 
A sleep which no propitious Pow r er dispels, 
Nor changing seasons, nor revolving years." 

Thoughts like these few can endure. They are 
enough to make us plead with all possible earnestness 
for a continuance of existence, though it should be 
perplexed with many sore evils, and tormented by 
many severe pains, 



16 DEATH THE KING OF TERRORS. 

In most cases, the man of affliction, broken down 
by disease and poverty, dreads less the evils of his 
condition than the extinction of his being; and he 
will cling to life, till crushed and tormented beyond 
endurance. He finally yields to an overpowering 
providence, but not willingly. He dies, but is not 
reconciled to his fate. Nothing but the thought that 
his (existence will be continued and his condition 
improved will carry resignation and consolation to his 
soul. There is that in man, which makes him shrink 
with horror from the idea or annihilation ; yet it is 
difficult to make him fully sensible of the stupendous 
fact that all must die. How shall we account for this, 
except on the ground that he cannot er.dure the 
thought of death ? Is it not a strong love of life, 
which makes him listen with a degree of indifference 
to the most moving and pathetic descriptions of the 
shortness of life and the certainty of death? 

It is not a hard task to persuade a man, who is fast 
sinking to the tomb under the weight of an incurable 
disease, that many years intervene between him and 
death. How easy is it to flatter the victim of con- 
sumption, — that most fatal of all maladies, — even 
when the hectic flush is on his cheek, that he will re- 
cover his heahh! And how anxious are those who 
are past cure, to try every medicine that may be 
recommended to them ! they are not willing to give 
up, even when every supposed remedy within their 
reach has been applied without success. Still, life is 
sweet to them, and death is bitter, and they will cling 
to the former, though it bite like a serpent. 



DEATH THE KING OF TERRORS. 17 

We have numerous illustrations of our mortality 
before our eyes continually. Yet we act as if they 
were all illusive and void of significance. The phi- 
losopher has been puzzled and the preacher pained 
at the seeming indifference of men on this subject. 
When there is so much transpiring every day to show 
us what our end must be — when every movement of 
time witnesses the departure of some spirit — when 
death-groans are constantly ringing in our ears, and 
friends and foes are rapidly retiring from life's busy 
stage, to make room for the multitudes that are ever 
rising to act their parts in the great drama of human 
existence, it would seem that we might be fully sensi- 
ble of the shortness of life and the certainty of death. 
But it is not so. To-day a crowd is gathered around 
the grave of a departed fellow being ; and there the 
preacher exhausts his store of eloquence, in portraying 
the frailty of man and the briefness of his stay upon 
earth ; a few tears are shed, perhaps, and a few groans 
go forth from burdened souls ; but the time for dis 
pemon comes, and when to-morrow's sun looks down 
upon those that composed that throig. they are. to all 
human appearance, as thoughtless as though nothing 
had happened to warn them of the fleetness of their 
earthly career. The fact is, we can dwell with pleasure 
upon thoughts of lift* and enjoyment, but we are not 
disposed to meditate upon death. It is not congenial 
with our nature to look with complacency upon the 
darkness of the tomb ; for to feel that we must sooner 
or later die, and lay down in the cold and silent grave, 
is unpleasant ; indeed, as we have already said, it is 



18 DEATH THE KING OF TERRORS. 

fearful, specially if our faith in immortality be weak ; 
and, therefore, when the thought of our dissolution 
intrudes itself upon us, we labor to get rid of it 
as soon as possible. And, doubtless, this love of life 
or desire for a continued existence, and weak faith, 
is the reason why men seern to think so little about 
dying. While in prosperity, they wish to live, and 
they put the evil day far from them, and act as though 
it would never come. In adversity, or old age, they 
are no more willing to die ; and most, though standing 
upon the last verge of mortal being, strive to banish 
every thought of death from their minds, because it 
is chilling to the aspirations of the soul. 

It is obvious, from the foregoing remarks, that out 

of the love of life has grown the dread of death ; 

and so far as we believe that our existence terminates 

at the dissolution of the body, just so far is death 

terrible to us. Is death, then, a reality — that is, death 

in its broadest sense ? Is it really true that the present 

life is all the life we have to live, and that, when it 

terminates, our existence comes to a close ? Were 

God's providence so ordered that every natural desire 

of man must be disappointed, there would be more 

evidence than there is, that the grave is the last scene 

of human existence. Did I see man thirsting for 

knowledge, and laboring from childhood to old age 

without finding it ; did I see that the Author of his 

being had created him with an appetite for food and 

drink, and placed him in a world where it could never 

be gratified ; did I see nowhere in this great realm of 

life a supply for the demands of his social nature ; in 



DEATH THE KIJSG OF TERRORS. 19 

short, did I see that God had created him with a va- 
riety of wants, and had given him no means of sup- 
plying them, I might be more induced than I am to 
believe that the grave would be the end of human 
existence. But when I discover that there is bread 
for the hungry, water for the thirsty, light for the eye, 
sound for the ear, society for the lonely, and sympathy 
for the yearning heart ; and when I behold nature 
unfolding the vast volume of her works, and exposing 
the secret recesses, where her jewels of truth are 
stored, to him who seeks for knowledge as for hidden 
treasures, I am constrained to believe that the univer- 
sal desire for immortal life will be gratified. 

But what saith the Bible about this matter ? Its 
voice is yea and amen. It confirms, and throws a 
halo of light around the teachings of nature and rea- 
son ; and this confirmation and light are the very 
things demanded to perfect our faith in the future life. 
Without them darkness would rest on all our theories. 
We might appeal to the constitution of the human 
mind, and array the teachings of nature and the de- 
ductions of reason against the doctrine of annihilation, 
and farther argue that the aspirations of the soul prove, 
beyond refutation, that man is destined to live after 
the death of the body ; still, without the testimony of 
the Bible, our faith in immortality will be weak, and 
will soar heavenward on a trembling wing. On the 
contrary, that faith which is firmly based on the teach- 
ings of the Bible is strong and immovable. Who 
ever met death with a more confident hope than he who 
placed unwavering reliance on the doctrines of the 



20 DEATH THE KIlNG OF TERRORS. 

New Testament, and lived as they direct? and who 
ever had fewer doubts of the future life than he ? 
Show me a man who receives the Bible as a sure guide 
to religious truth, and I will show you one who has 
strong faith in immortality. But it is, and always has 
been the case, that the man who has no confidence in 
the Bible has very little, if any, faith in the future life, 
though he may understand well the teachings of na- 
ture and reason on that subject. For example, turn 
back to the writings of the sages and philosophers of 
ancient times, who disregarded the Bible or had no 
knowledge of it, and see how they discoursed upon im- 
mortality. Cicero, after an extended examination of 
the subject, and presenting a variety of strong and lu- 
cid arguments on the nature and in favor of the future 
existence of the soul, says, " Which of these is true 
God alone knows, and which is most probable is a 
very great question/' After examining all the specu- 
lations of antiquity, Seneca makes the following just 
remarks : " Immortality, however desirable, was rather 
promised than proved by those great men." Socrates 
remarked, a short time previous to his death, "I shall 
die, and you will continue to live; but which of us 
will be in the better state is known only to God. I 
hope I am going to good men, but this I would not con- 
fidently assert." Dr. Good, in speaking of the an- 
cient theories concerning the future state, says, they 
were mere philosophical speculations, leaving the mind 
in "utter doubt and indecision ; hope perpetually 
neutralized by fear." The like may be said of the 
theories of all, in every age, who have rejected the 
Bible ? or known nothing of its sentiments ; their spec- 



DEATH THE KlflG OF TERRORS. 21 

illations have only tended to fill the mind with doubt, 
hope and fear. And we may repeat, that weak is that 
faith which is not based on the Revealed Word, what- 
ever may be said about philosophy. " Philosophy," 
says one, whose name I do not remember, "philosophy 
can only heave a sigh, a longing sigh, after immortality. 
Eternity is to her an unknown vast, in which she 
soars on conjecture's trembling wing. Above — be- 
neath — around, is an unfathomed void ; and doubt, 
uncertainty, or despair, are the result of all her inqui- 
ries. 

Now look at the Bible, and see the difference. 
Those, in whose hearts its doctrines and precepts have 
sunk deep, and operated extensively, are not tossed 
about on the waves of doubt and fear. They stand 
firm amid the conflicting doctrines of men. They 
live the future life now, by faith ; and death to them is 
only a stepping-stone to immortality. How confi- 
dent are they of living after the body is dead ! and 
with what joy do they speak of their destiny ! And 
one, by turning to the writings of the apostles, can 
see, at once, the difference between their faith and 
the faith of those, who in their day knew nothing of 
the Gospel. But they do not stand alone. There is 
ample testimony in the language of Christians, who 
have lived since, to prove that the Gospel has power 
to inspire a joyful faith as nothing else can. To sub- 
stantiate this, we might quote volumes from the dying 
remarks of believers, but the following must suffice. 

The case of the aged Polycarp, bishop of the church 
in Smyrna, is known to every one. When at the place 

2* 



22 DEATH THE KIJMG OF TERRORS. 

of execution, life was offered him if he would renounce 
Christ; he steadfastly refused, saying, "Eighty and six 
years have I served him, and he has done me nothing 
but good ; why should I forsake him now?" Mr. 
Saunders, who was burnt at Coventry, on coming to 
the stake where he was to suffer, embraced it with ap- 
parent joy, exclaiming, " Welcome, cross of Christ ! 
Welcome, everlasting life ! " When Ridley and La- 
timer were bound together to the stake, the former 
said to his companion, " Be of good heart, brother ; 
for God will either assuage the fury of the flame, or 
enable us to abide it." The latter replied, " Be of 
good comfort, for we shall this day light such a candle 
in England as, I trust, by God's grace, never shall be 
put out." The dying words of Bede, who departed 
this life A. D. 735, are very impressive. He said to 
one of his pupils, " I have some valuables in rny little 
chest. Run quickly and bring all the priests of the 
monastery to me." When they came he distributed 
his small presents to them, and exhorted each of them 
to attend to their masses and prayers. They all wept 
when he told them they would see him no more ; but 
rejoiced to hear him say, " It is now time for me to 
return to him who made me. The time of my dis- 
solution draws near. I desire to be dissolved, and be 
with Christ. Yes, my soul desires to see Christ, my 
king, in his beauty." In this manner he continued 
to converse cheerfully till the evening, when a pupil 
said to him, " Dear master, one sentence is still want- 
ing." He replied, " Write quickly." The young 
man said, "It is finished." He answered, "Thou 



DEATH THE KING OF TERRORS. 23 

hast well said, all is now finished. Hold my head 
with thy hands, for I shall delight to sit on the oppo- 
site side of the room, on the holy spot at which I have 
been accustomed to pray, and where, while sitting, I 
can invoke my Father." When he was placed on the 
pavement of his little place, he sung, " Glory be to 
the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost ; " 
and expired as he uttered the last words. Such was 
the happy, the glorious conclusion of life to this first 
of scholars.* 

Here permit me to introduce a collection of the 
Dying Sayings of individuals, whose names are not 
mentioned. " Surely," said one in the act of dying, 
" the Lord is here." "I am wrapt/' said another, 
"in the vision of God's love." Another felt that his 
soul had already begun to dissolve its connection with 
the body. " In fact," said he, " I know not whether 
I am in the body or out of it." " I feel," said one 
who was dying at the age of thirty-six, — " I feel like 
living forever." " My peace," said one as he was 
departing, " flows like a river." Another in a more 
rapturous emotion exclaimed, " Brother, heaven has 
come to me ; it is in me and all around me. I am 
filled with God and glory." " I go," said one, " to 
join our dear friends who have gone before me, and 
they are not a few. We shall meet again in a better 
world." And when restored, for a little while, from 
what he and his friends thought a dying condition, he 
said, " A delightful feeling of peace, of freedom from 

# Extracts from an article published in the Christian Review, 



24 DEATH THE KING OF TERRORS. 

all pain and suffering, of withdrawal from the world, 
came over me."* 

Dr. Joseph Priestly, when about to die, said, "We 
shall all meet finally ; we only require different de- 
grees of discipline, suited to our different tempers, to 

prepare us for final happiness." Upon Mr. 

coming into his room, he said, " You see, sir, I am 

still living!" Mr. observed, he would always 

live. " Yes," said he, " I believe I shall, and shall 
meet again in another and better world." Rev. John 
Murry, when on his death bed, answered the question 
whether he was willing to depart, " O yes, yes, yes ; 
the glorious manifestations of divine love still brighten 
upon me." Rev. John Bisbe, pastor of the first Uni- 
versalis! Society in Portland, Me., when convinced in 
his own judgment, that his life was rapidly hastening 
to a close, fearing that his companion might not be fully 
sensible of his situation, expressed a wish to speak to 
her alone. An affecting scene occurred. She said 
when she approached the bed of the dying saint, he 
took her hand, and gently pressing it, said with a calm 
and dignified composure, " Mercy, I feel that I am 
going to leave you," and then, committing her to the 
protection of a benignant Providence, he bid her meet 
the event with the same calmness with which he had 
announced it. With the same collectedness, he gave 
directions as to the settlement of his temporal con- 
cerns. When the children were presented him, the 
dying father smiled upon them, and with a kiss, he 

# From the Christian Register, a part of which the editor 
quoted from the Wesleyan Journal* 



DEATH THE KING OF TERRORS. 25 

bid the tender innocents an affectionate farewell, 
trusting that the same God who had been his protector 
would preserve and bless them. He declared in the 
most unequivocal language, that he cherished the 
same religious sentiments which, as a minister, he had 
labored to establish, and desired that this fact, together 
with his dying blessing, should be communicated to 
his church and congregation.* Volumes of testimony 
of this character might be collected, but this must 
suffice. 

This language was uttered by men believing in the 
Bible ; and was the like ever used by sceptics ? and 
was ever such faith enjoyed by men who have rejected 
or not understood the Gospel ? No ; it is not he who 
can only prate about flowers and butterflies, and ex- 
patiate upon the opening Spring and the recuperating 
energies of nature] nor is it he who can only enter 
into a metaphysical disquisition on the nature and 
laws of spirit, or educe labored proof of immortality 
from the economy of the natural world, that has the 
strongest faith in the future life ; but it is he who has 
implicit confidence in the testimony of the Scriptures. 
What saith the Bible, then, is a question of momentous 
import, and demands the undivided attention and 
the most serious consideration of every human being. 

To answer this question fully is not a small task, and 
should be approached with reverence and caution, es- 
pecially when we remember how many have sought to 
perform it without success. Among those who have 

* See Happy Death Scenes, by J, G. Adams. 



26 DEATH THE K1JSG OF TERRORS. 

had strong faith in the immortal destiny of our race, 
there have been various opinions in relation to the 
mode of our future existence, and the process by 
which it is to be attained. There have been numer- 
ous theories devised, and many appeals have been 
made to the Bible to sustain them, and doubtless many 
of them contained some truth ; yet it is pretty evi- 
dent that none have been entirely free from error. 
This error and diversity of sentiment have unques- 
tionably gendered doubts and despondency ; but we 
should remember, that as God does not seem pleased 
to give us truth without effort, nor to put us in pos- 
session of all the principles of his government at the 
very commencement of our inquiries, it becomes us to 
be grateful for what we do receive, and strive earnestly 
for more ; realizing that every ray of light cast upon 
the destiny of man gives strength to faith, and serves 
to dissipate the darkness of the tomb. 

Hence, as our object is to find truth, perhaps we 
cannot pursue it better, than to examine, at the outset, 
so far as this inquiry renders proper, some of the sys- 
tems which theologians have elaborated and defended, 
concerning the nature of the human soul or spirit, and 
its future existence. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE EMANATION THEORY. 

There are certain crude notions floating about in 
many minds, of a very pernicious character, and 
when brought to bear on the human will, they fasten 
upon it the palsying influence of fatalism. They 
are capable of being systemized to some extent, and 
when brought together and reduced to order, may 
be expressed thus : God is the great spiritual foun- 
tain from which all souls have issued. And as a 
fouutain cannot send forth, at the same time, both 
bitter water and sweet, imperfect spirits cannot issue 
from the unmingled fountain of all moral perfection: 
and as the spirit of man is an emanation from the 
One Ineffable Essence — from the source of all spirit- 
ual excellence — it is, of course, free from all moral 
pollution when it proceeds from God and enters into 
the human body. Moreover, the spirit of man, be- 
ing a part of the Great Universal Spirit, can no more 
sin than God himself,it can never be contaminated by 
its connexion with the body. All the moral turpitude 
of man springs from the flesh. The spirit never 
consents to acts of iniquity ; but, on the contrary, 
always remonstrates against the suggestions of the 
carnal nature ; consequently, neither sin nor any of 
its effects can ever exist where the flesh does not 
exist. Hence, when the body, which is of the dust, 



28 THE EMAJNATION THEORY. 

through the instrumentality of death, returns to the 
dust as it was, then shall the spirit return to God, 
the fountain from which it emanated, and there be 
happy duration without end. This return, however, 
is of a peculiar character. As the drop that falls from 
the cloud returns to the great father of waters, and 
is swallowed up in the ocean from which it evapo- 
rated, so the spirit shall return to the Father of spirits, 
and be merged in his infinite perfections ; and hav- 
ing thus become mingled with the Infinite Spirit, it 
will be happy beyond expression ; because God is 
the embodiment of all the elements of perfect fe- 
licity. 

This theory has many ugly features, and is cum- 
bered with insuperable difficulties. Some parts of it 
indicate very strongly, that, when men die, they fall 
into a state proximating annihilation. We learn 
'from it, that their bodies dissolve and mingle with 
the universe of matter, and their spirits, on leaving 
the materials which incased them, return to God and 
mingle with the Universal Spirit. Now let it be 
observed, that when the materials which compose 
the body of a man are dispersed and intermixed 
with inorganic matter, and his spirit merged in 
the Parent Spirit, his individuality is destroyed ; and 
this, to all intents and purposes, is to annihilate his 
whole being. The thought of my losing my iden- 
tity and individuality is as unplesant and repulsive 
as, that I should be wholly struck out of existence. 
There is no difference to me, between falling into 
nonentity, and being deprived of conscious existence 
and a knowledge of myself. 



THE EMANATION THEORY. 29 

Moreover, if the theory under consideration be 
true, sin has no existence in fact ; and all the Bible 
says with regard to it is neither true nor useful. To 
substantiate this, let me inquire, What is sin ? The 
answer is at hand. St. John says, that "Sin is the 
transgression of the law ; " that is, sin is the viola- 
tion of some moral obligation. It would be mani- 
festly wrong to suppose the apostle had reference to 
violation of physical or organic law ; for a person 
might violate both and suffer much pain, yet feel no 
consciousness of having committed sin, — feel none 
of the pangs which a guilty conscience inflicts. All 
the physical and organic laws in the universe might 
be violated, and unbounded misery produced there- 
by, but if the violation were unaccompanied by 
moral delinquency, no sin would be committed. 
Sin, then, according to the Gospel and common- 
sense, is the transgression of some moral law ; and 
it is plain, that unless we know what a moral law 
requires, and feel, in a degree, our obligations to obey 
its requirements, we are not amenable to it, and it is 
the same to us as though it did not exist at all. St. 
Paul says, that "sin is not imputed where there is no 
law ;" that is, where there is no law, there can be no 
transgression, and where there is no transgression, 
there no sin can be imputed. And of course, where 
there is no intelligence, there can be no law recog- 
nised, or no moral obligations felt ; so we may say 
with propriety, that, where there is no intelligence, 
there is no law, and can be no sin. Enlightened ju- 
rists do not consider a man, destitute of intelligence. 



30 THE EMANATION THEORY. 

criminal, whatever may be the deed he perpetrates, 
and for the best of all reasons; he has not those pow- 
ers of mind which can discriminate between right 
and wrong. The brute is never supposed to be ca- 
pable of committing sin, simply because it has 
neither intelligence nor a moral nature. It cannot 
understand the requirements of a law. It cannot 
feel moral obligation. It cannot, therefore, commit 
sin. Before man can be considered a sinner, he 
must violate a moral law, which he understands and 
regards as obligatory. How absurd, then, to say, 
that the mind or spirit never commits sin or has any 
connexion with it, but that all moral turpitude 
springs from the body. The fact is, the mind or 
soul has some connexion with sin ; it is the very 
thing culpable ; for, without intelligence there could 
be no sin, and the body, as such, is not intelligent. 
But has this ever been denied ? It has, as may be 
seen by the following : " May I not with propriety 
proceed another step, and assert, not only that sin 
does not proceed from the mind, but that the mind or 
soul, so far as it is enlightened, never consents to 
wickedness ? When uninstructed in regard to the 
nature and influence of a certain action, the mind, 
of course, is not competent to decide upon its char- 
acter, or determine whether it is right or wrong. Its 
assent to sin, under such circumstances, is uninten- 
tional and guiltless. But when the mind is clearly 
instructed in the principles of morality — when it is 
fully prepared to decide whether a deed is proper or 
sinful/ does it ever then give consent to the sinful ? ,J 



THE EMANATION THEORY. 31 

" Never ! " " Although, in these circumstances, the 
mind is in bondage to the propensities, and its higher 
promptings are lost sight of, in the whirl of un- 
bridled appetites, still it participates not in their 
wickedness, but retains the integrity of its purer 
nature. "* 

As strange as it may seem, these sentiments have 
become so riveted in many minds, that it is almost 
impossible for them to receive anything else, however 
accordant with Scripture and reason. Hut, if true, 
it must be plain to all, that death is the only saviour 
men need or can have. The Scriptures represent 
that Christ came into the world to save them from 
their sins. According to the hypothesis stated above, 
men, as spiritual beings, have no sins ; from what 
does he save them then ? Does he save them from 
the u lusts of the flesh, and all the evil passions that 
distract and torment men on earth ? " No ; for 
these they carry about with them as long as they 
live ; and when they die their spirits are delivered, 
and wing their way to God, having no taint of sin 
upon them, while the " lusts of the flesh, and all 
the evil passions that distract and torment men on 
earth, are left in the earth where they originated ? "f 
Death, then, not Christ, is the saviour; and the 
record is untrue, which says, " and thou shalt call 
his name Jesus ; for he shall save his people from 
their sins," and the apostle was mistaken when he 
said, " there is no other name under heaven given 

* Expositor, Vol H, New Series, page 297. 

t Williamson's Exposition of Universalism, page 18, 



32 THE EMANATION THEORY. 

among men, whereby we must be saved." But do not 
such sentiments rob Christ of his glory, and give it 
to death ? If so, I ask what sense is there in call- 
ing him a Saviour at all ? It may be replied, that, 
He may be called a Saviour, because he revealed the 
character, government, and purposes of God, for by 
this revelation he saves those who believe, from the 
fear of death, and many other things, which we 
may not now specify. Be it so, still the question 
returns, Why not call him a revealer instead of a 
Saviour? He no more saves the world of mankind 
from sin, than the man, who, seeing his neighbor 
struggling in the water, saves him from drowning, 
by merely telling him that there are means provided 
for his rescue, which will not fail to effect his deliv- 
erance. Thus he may reveal a very cheering fact 
to the drowning man, but as for saving him, proper- 
ly speaking, from a watery grave, he does not ; cer- 
tainly not, as Christ saves the world. 

But look at the subject from another point of view. 
The Bible no where says that the spirit of man is 
an emanation ; it does not inculcate the doctrine, 
that God infused into man a portion of his own na- 
ture. If it did, would it not be pernicious in its in- 
fluence ? It would make God the only moral force 
in the universe ; thereby annihilate man, as a moral 
accountable agent, and make him a mere bubble, 
springing out of the Universal Soul, and soon van- 
ishing into it again, without a destiny to accomplish, 
or a hope that his field of improvement will reach 
beyond the present world. 



THE EMANATION THEORY. 33 

Perhaps it may be asked, if Gen. 2 : 7, is not 
strong proof of what we deny ? It is often argued, I 
know, that as " God formed man of the dust of the 
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of 
life, and man became a living soul," he must have 
received into himself a portion of the Deity, and 
that this constitutes his immortality. But this is 
all assumption ; the like is not intimated in the pas- 
sage. All that can be said of it, is, that God 
breathed into man the breath of life, and man be- 
came a living person; for, according to Calmet, the 
original word rendered soul simply means person. 
In Gen. 1 : 27, we have something definite on this 
subject. We read, that " God created man in his 
own image, in the image of God created he him ; 
male and female created he them." Here it is very 
positively declared that God created man in his own 
image ; as the Great Supreme is a spirit, and infinite 
in all his attributes, immutable and unlimited in the 
essential qualities of his nature, and as all material 
bodies are limited and changeable, it is evident that 
the body of man is not in the image of God. The 
conclusion is, therefore, inevitable, that his soul, 
spirit, or his moral and intellectual powers, were 
created after the nature and perfections of Deity. 
And between the words, create and emanate, there 
is a very broad difference in signification. To cre- 
ate, is to make something by a simple effort of power, 
without the use of materials, and without any 
known process ; and is, of course, what none but 
God can do, To emanate, when personally applied, 



84 THE EMANATION THEORY. 

is to send forth, from an individual agent, particles 
or portions of his own body. Now, may we not, 
with propriety, ask the advocates of this emanation 
doctrine, whether God suffered any diminution by 
transfusing a portion of his own spirit into man ; and 
whether it is not as consistent to say, that the heavens 
and the earth are an emanation from God, as that 
the spirit of man is? The Scriptures say, that " In 
the beginning God created the heavens and the 
earth," and also that he " created man in his own 
image." I suppose, none will doubt that the word 
create implies as much when referring to man, as 
when referring to the heavens and the earth, and no 
more. 

Finally, it is not a doctrine of Scripture, nor is it 
reasonable to suppose, that the spirit of man, after it 
has left the body, will be re-absorbed in the bosom 
of Deity, and thus lose its individuality. The 
body, to be sure, returns, at death, to its mother 
earth ; because it has accomplished the object for 
which it was made, it soon mingles with the dust, 
and perhaps the elements go to make up other bodies 
or organizations, and all that constitutes its identity 
or individuality is gone. But it is not so with the 
spirit, which, has a higher destiny than to occupy 
the body for a short space, and then vanish into a 
state of unconsciousness. It is capable of more glo- 
rious things than to rise up and float a short season 
on the wave of time, and then sink into a state of 
individual annihilation. Wherever, in all the works 
of God, we discover the capability of any particu- 



THE EMANATION THEORY. 35 

lar attainment, we see that that attainment was 
purposed. And what God hath purposed is sure. 
Hence, we cannot believe that an intelligence which 
is able to perpetually advance, as is the soul, to higher 
regions of spiritual life ; or, in other words, which 
is unbounded in its aspirations, and its moral and 
intellectual capabilities, will perish almost as soon 
as the insect, destined to flit and glitter only a few 
days in the summer's sun. The soul has had a con- 
scious existence here, and dwelt in a body adapted 
to this mode of being ; through this body she has 
maintained intercourse with the outer world, and 
when this material body is thrown off, she only needs 
to be clothed upon by another body, adapted to the 
constitution of the world or state into which she is 
ushered, to enable her to retain her identity, and 
communicate with the objects and intelligences 
around her. It is, therefore, reasonable to conclude, 
that the body may return to the dust as it was, and 
the spirit to God ; not to lose its individuality, but 
to hold a closer communion with Him than ever be- 
fore, and see Him with a new light in all his works, 
and enjoy more by this immediate communion than 
man has ever imagined. Entertaining such views, 
we " rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of 
glory." 

But it may be asked here, whether, in taking the 
position that the body or flesh, in itself, is not capa- 
ble of committing sin, we have not contradicted one 
of the plainest doctrines of the Bible ? This ques- 
tion the reader will find answered in the following 
chapter. 



CHAPTER III. 

FLESH, BODY, &c, AS THE CAUSE OF SIN. 

In the New Testament, we find the terms flesh, 
flesh and blood, body, &c, used in various senses. 
Besides the proper meaning, which it is unnecessary 
to illustrate, they have several of a metaphorical kind, 
some of which are nearly related to the literal idea, 
and some but remotely connected with it. " Flesh 
and blood" sometimes denotes men living in this 
world. Thus, when Peter confessed that Jesus was 
"the Christ, the Son of the living God," our Saviour 
replied, " Blessed art thou, Barjona, for flesh and 
blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father 
which is in heaven ;" that is, Peter had not received 
this truth from men, but from God. St. Paul says, 
when alluding to his own conversion, "Immediately 
I conferred not with flesh and blood, neither went I 
up to Jerusalem, to them which were apostles before 
me ;" meaning that he sought counsel of no man. 
" We wrestle not," says he again, "with flesh and 
blood, but with principalities and powers, against the 
rulers of the darkness of this world:" we contend 
not bodily against the physical strength of men, as 
do the wrestlers in Grecian games, but against evil 
authorities and influences. In a similar sense, the 
single term flesh is sometimes used, as a generalization, 
for living men. Said Christ, with reference to the 



FLESH, BODY, &c, AS THE CAUSE OF SIN. 37 

destruction of the Jewish State, " Except those days 
be shortened, there shall no flesh be saved ;" that is, 
no people will otherwise survive. "All flesh shall see 
the salvation of God ;" all the world shall behold it. 
"By the deeds of the law," says St. Paul, "shall no 
flesh be justified," or no living person. Of husband 
and wife, it is frequently said, "they twain shall be 
one flesh," or one person in the relations of the 
present life. 

But we find, in the New Testament, another meta- 
phorical usage of these and similar terms, which is of 
a more remarkable character, since it involves a moral 
element. The flesh, the body, or its members, often 
denote sinful affections, or rather the immediate im- 
pulses that lead to sin. Every careful reader of the 
New Testament must have observed how frequent 
and favorite representation it is, that the flesh, the 
body, its members, &c, are of sinful influence, and 
that whatsoever is done by these is morally corrupt. 
St. Paul says, " I know that in me, that is, in my 
flesh, is no good thing." And again: "The flesh 
lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the 
flesh ; and these are contrary the one to the other." 
All sin is thus attributed to the flesh ; and this, not 
only when it is of such a kind that we can trace 
some natural connection between it and the body, 
as in the case of lewdness and other corporeal ex- 
cesses, but also when the sin is such as appears to 
belong solely to the mind, as envy, pride, impiety, 
false religion, superstition, &c. It is said, " The 
works of the flesh are manifest, which are these : 

3 



88 FLESH; BODY, &c, 

adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 
idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, 
wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, 
drunkenness, revellings, and such like." On the 
other hand, the mind or spirit of man, contrasted 
with the flesh or body, is sometimes represented as 
pure, and as according thoroughly with the law of 
God, at the same time that the latter is striving to 
maintain the dominion of sin. Says the apostle, 
" I delight in the law of God after the inward man ; 
[that is, the mind] — but I see another law in my 
members warring against the law of my mind, and 
bringing me into captivity to the law of sin. ... So 
then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God ; 
but with the flesh the law of sin." Nor is this 
manner of representation confined to a few insulated 
texts, as if it were accidental ; it fills a large space 
in the New Testament, occurs in a variety of forms, 
and appears to be of familiar use, so that it must be 
underlaid by some general principle. 

We think, however, that the meaning has been 
frequently misunderstood, by taking the language 
in too literal a sense, and by overlooking other 
considerations that manifestly belong to the subject. 
We think, too, that the mistake has led to some 
wrong conclusions, which affect our view of the 
nature of sin and righteousness, and that obscure 
the relations we hold as moral agents. We there- 
fore venture on the subject, with the hope of con- 
tributing somewhat towards clearing it up, though 
we do not expect to bring out, into perfect light, 



AS THE CAUSE OF SIN. 89 

every thing that belongs to it. Even should we 
mistake on some points, the error may serve to set 
others on exploring the field, and lead them to com- 
plete what we here begin. 

The first thing to be observed is, that the repre- 
sentation spoken of, as occupying so large a space 
in the New Testament, is, nevertheless, peculiar to 
St. Paul's writings. Nowhere else do we meet with 
any clear and unquestionable instance of it, under 
whatever form, though there are a few expressions 
in the other writers, that might, perhaps, be referred, 
if necessary, to the same general signification. Thus, 
St. John says, when speaking of those who first be- 
lieved in Christ, that " they were born not of blood, 
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, 
but of God;" where, however, the meaning probably 
is, that their new birth was not by physical agency, 
by " the will of the flesh," like the first, nor indeed 
by those influences that prevailed among men, but 
by the spirit of God. Christ also says to Nicode- 
mus, who had just affected to take the new birth 
literally, as but a repetition of the natural birth — 
"that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that 
which is born of the spirit is spirit." But here it is 
doubtful whether he means more than that such a 
new birth, as Nicodemus had just suggested, would 
be only a corporeal one, like the first, and the spirit 
of God alone could transform us into spiritual men. 
In his agony at Gethsemane, he told his drowsy 
disciples to watch and pray, lest ye fall into tempta- 
tion ; " the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is 






40 FLESH, BODY, &c, 

weak ; " evidently alluding to that corporeal sensi- 
tiveness which would give rise to animal fear, or 
fear of corporeal suffering. On another occasion, 
he told the Jews, " Ye judge according to the flesh ;" 
that is, according to outward appearances ; on which 
ground they denied that he was " the light of the 
world," as the context intimates. Were Christ ac- 
customed, like St. Paul, to use the term flesh to de- 
signate the impulses to sin, we might suppose that he 
did so in this text, and that the meaning was, "Ye 
judge according to your sinful propensities." But 
the passage quite as naturally admits the sense we 
have given it, and we do not find the other usage in 
our Saviour's phraseology. St. Peter seems to have 
come nearer than the rest of the inspired writers, to 
St. Paul's idea of the flesh. " I beseech you," says 
he, " as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly 
lusts, which war against the soul." It is not im- 
probable, however, that by fleshly lusts he meant 
only those which obviously proceed from bodily ap- 
petites, such as we commonly call lusts, and not sin 
in general. But in another place he says, " Foras- 
much as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm 
yourselves likewise with the same mind ; for he 
that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin," 
where, it would seem, he means, hath ceased from 
sin in general ; thus connecting all kinds of sin with 
the flesh, in such a way that crucifying this would 
prevent them. Except St. Paul's writings, this is the 
only passage in which such a connection appears to 
be recognised between the body and sin in general, 



AS THE CAUSE OF SIN. 41 

as distinguished from those particular vices which 
spring directly from the corporeal appetites. And 
even here, it is questionable whether St. Peter did 
not refer specially to the latter, instead of having 
all the varieties of sin distinctly in his view: "he 
that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin, 
that he should no longer live the rest of his time in 
the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. 
For the time past of our lives may suffice to have 
wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked 
in lasciviousness, lust, excess of wine, revelling, 
banquetings, and abominable idolatries" in which 
the most shameful indulgences were practised. It 
is evidently to these that he refers, in other expres- 
sions of the kind, as in the following : " The Lord 
knoweth how # # * to reserve the unjust unto the 
day of judgment to be punished ; but chiefly them 
that walk after the flesh in the lust of concupiscence, 
and despise government ; " where those who walk 
after the flesh, are one particular class of offenders. 
"For when they speak great swelling words of 
vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, 
through much wantonness," or lasciviousness. So, 
too, Jude says " Likewise, also, these dreamers 
defile the flesh, (practise obscenity,) despise domin- 
ion," &c. He exhorts his brethren to save some of 
these with fear, " pulling them out of the fire, 
hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.' 7 In 
these latter examples, the reference plainly is to 
excessive indulgence of what are properly called 
bodily appetites. 



42 FLESH, BODY, &c, 

Such is the manner in which the terms in ques- 
tion are employed in all parts of the New Testament, 
except the writings of St. Paul. But when we pass 
into these, we find the phraseology habitually used 
in a new sense. According to him, all sin is the 
work of the flesh, and in the flesh' there is nothing 
good. To be carnal, or fleshly, is to be opposed to 
God. He contrasts the mind or the inner man 
with the body or flesh ; and speaks of the one as 
pure in all its exercises, and the other as always 
corrupt. All this representation, and all such phrase- 
ology, are confined to him. We may therefore 
suspect that they grew out of some peculiar formula 
of a philosophic kind, which he alone, among the 
writers of the New Testament, had, from his more 
extensive learning, been familiar with. And this 
conjecture will be strengthened, if we shall find that 
the distinction between him and them is rather verbal 
or rhetorical than real. It will indicate that he but 
borrowed the language of certain speculative hypoth- 
eses, to express a meaning that was common to all the 
apostles. 

In proceeding now to a closer observation of his 
real doctrine, we will begin by showing that, not- 
withstanding the seeming purport of his language 
in many places, he does not mean that sin is con- 
fined to the body exclusively. He regards the mind 
of man, and even the spirit of man, as the seat of 
moral corruption, equally with the body. Writing 
to the Ephesians he reminds them that formerly they 
"walked according to the course of this world, accord- 



AS THE CAUSE OF SIN. 43 

ing to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit 
that now worketh in the children of disobedience ; 
among whom we all had our conversation in time 
past, in the lusts of the flesh and of the mind." 
Again, he says to the Corinthians,"Let us cleanse our- 
selves of all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit." 
Here the lusts of the mind and the filthiness of the 
spirit are placed on the same ground with those of 
the flesh. Other instances from St. Paul's writings, 
are the following : " As they did not like to retain 
God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a 
reprobate mind," or an impure, adulterated mind. To 
the Ephesians he says, "Walk not as other Gentiles 
walk, in the vanity of their mind." To the Colos- 
sians he speaks of one who is "vainly puffed up by 
his fleshly mind." He warns Timothy, repeatedly, 
of "men of corrupt minds," and mentions "seducing 
spirits." To Titus he says, " Unto them that are 
defiled and unbelieving, is nothing pure ; but even 
their mind and conscience is defiled." He frequently 
exhorts us " to be renewed in our minds," and "in 
the spirit of our minds ; " implying, of course, that 
our minds and the spirit of them are wrong. 

From all this, we see how gross a mistake it 
would be to suppose St. Paul confines sin to the 
body alone, or regards the mind, the spirit of man, 
as incorrupt. He means nothing of this kind, even 
when he says that he delights in the law of God 
after the inward man, while the law in his members 
wars against the law of his mind, bringing him into 
captivity to the law of sin. Indeed, the mere body 



44 FLESH, BODY, &c, 

or flesh, strictly speaking, can never sin, though it 
may work temptations. When taken by itself, it is 
neither intelligent nor conscious, and is as incapable 
of moral transgression as any other unintelligent 
mass of matter. And even when united with mind, 
as it is in every rational person, it is the mind which 
feels, knows, and acts through the body as its instru- 
ment. It is the mind which recognizes motives, 
controls impulses, or yields to them ; it is the mind 
which forms within itself the purpose, whether good 
or bad, and then executes it in overt acts by means 
of the body. The mind is the real agent ; and it is 
the mind alone that is guilty and condemned, in the 
case of sin. If it should be said that this contradicts 
St. Paul's assertion, that with the mind he served the 
law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin, we 
will, for the arguments sake, grant what is not 
strictly true, that there is a contradiction in words ; 
but is there any in the meaning? Will any one 
contend, seriously, that in serving the law of sin, 
the mind takes no part, neither premeditates nor 
desires, nor balances motives, nor comes to a deter- 
mination, nor wills, nor puts forth the effort ; but 
that all this is done by about a hundred or two pounds 
of mere bone, flesh, and blood, without any co-opera- 
tion of the mental power ? The utter absurdity of 
the supposition ought itself to be a sufficient guard 
against the misapprehension of the passage referred 
to ; but if this be not enough to satisfy every one, the 
matter will be put at rest by appealing to St. Paul's 
habitual recognition of corrupt, defiled, lustful, repro- 



AS THE CAUSE OF SIN. 45 

bate, filthy, vain, unrenewed minds and spirit in 
man. The other writers of the New Testament 
agree with St. Paul on this point. St. James says, 
" The spirit that dwelleth within us lusteth to 
envy." How often do we read in the gospels, of 
" unclean spirits ! " — an expression which, though 
borrowed from the popular notion of demons, could 
hardly have been retained by the evangelists, had 
they held the absolute and inevitable purity of all 
spirits. St. John says, " Believe not every spirit; 
but try the spirits whether they be of God." We 
have said that, properly speaking, the body never 
sins ; for, of itself, it is not intelligent to take cogni- 
zance of any moral law. For the same reason, 
neither can the blind appetites of the body sin. 
The farthest they can go in this direction is, to op- 
erate on the mind as impulses or incitements to 
wrong. If the mind does not consent to an improper 
indulgence of them there is no sin, how strongly 
soever they rage ; if it does consent, there is sin, 
how slightly soever they be felt. It is the determi- 
nation of the mind that gives the act a moral char- 
acter ; and without such determination there can be 
neither sin or righteousness, let the body or the 
appetites do what they may. 

We have seen representations, especially in some 
phrenological writers, that seemed, at least, to imply 
that sin is confined to the lower propensities, leaving 
our higher powers always pure and guiltless. They 
begin by personifying, unconsciously perhaps, the 
affections, faculties, and operations of our nature, as 

8* 



FLESH, BODY, &c, 

they are said to be manifested by the respective 
organs ; and then they treat each of these as a 
separate agent, complete in itself, having a will, 
judgment, and responsibility of its own, as if every 
single man were but a community of individuals, 
some of which are scoundrels, and some angels ; 
each, however, acting by itself, and answerable for 
itself. Thus, to use the phrenological nomenclature, 
our alimentiveness sins, by passing over the proper 
limits of its office into intemperance ; our destructive- 
ness, combativeness, self-esteem, amativeness, &c, 
in a similar way, or by misdirection. But here let 
us ask, Is it alimentiveness, &c, that is guilty in 
these cases? or is it the man himself as an intelli- 
gent being? is it the blind propensity, say of de- 
structiveness, or of amativeness, that is conscience- 
smitten, struck with remorse, made wretched, and 
that sometimes repents ? or is it the person, he who 
indulged these impulses unlawfully ? Which of the 
two is it that commits the sin, and suffers the conse- 
quences ? and then, on the other hand, is it the ab- 
stract tendencies to benevolence, reverence, consci- 
entiousness, &c, that are self-approved and blessed ? 
or is it he who purposely exerts and directs them ? 
Which of the two is the conscious agent, who thus 
serves the law of God and receives the reward ? In 
all these cases, it is not the impulses that are either 
good or bad, except as means. There must be an 
intelligent person to whom they belong, and whose 
mind, whose will, directs them before they can have 
any moral character ; and he alone is either the 



AS THE CAUSE OF SIN. 47 

agent or the responsible subject. Witness the case 
of brutes, which have many of these impulses in 
full vigor. Nor must St. Paul be understood to 
contradict this conclusion, self evident as it is. Even 
when he speaks of serving the law of God with his 
mind, and the law of sin with his flesh, he still 
recognizes the fact that it is he himself who is the 
agent in both cases : " So with the mind, I myself 
serve the law of God ; but with the flesh the law of 
sin." 

Another thing must be observed here. Whatever 
be the verbal form of the expression which St. Paul 
sometimes adopts, he does not mean that the body 
of flesh is necessarily of corrupt influence, so that 
it cannot be made the medium of righteousness, or 
that there is any thing in it which may not be 
used for good. He means that all this depends im- 
mediately on the person himself, on his will, on the 
determination of his mind ; and, accordingly, he 
brings exhortations to bear on these faculties. Says 
he, " Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal 
bodies ;" of course, his brethren might prevent this, 
by a right exercise of the mind. Again : " If the 
spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, 
dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead 
shall also quicken your mental bodies, by his spirit 
that dwelleth in you ; " that is, shall make your 
bodies the outward organs of the internal spiritual 
life ; for the context shows he means their sanctifi- 
cation in the present mortal state. To the Romans 
he says, referring to their former condition while un- 



48 FLESH, BODY, &c, 

converted, "As you have yielded your members ser- 
vants to uncleanness and to iniquity, unto iniquity ; 
even so now yield your members servants of right 
eousness, unto holiness.' 3 Again : " Neither yield 
ye your members as instruments of unrighteous- 
ness, unto sin : but yield yourselves unto God, as 
those that are alive from the dead, and your mem- 
bers as instruments of righteousness unto God." Of 
course, he held that " the members,' 7 or the body, 
might be devoted to sin or to righteousness, just ac- 
cording to the mind of the man, " I beseech you, 
therefore, brethren, that ye present your bodies a 
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God." Other 
expressions of the same general import, are the fol- 
lowing : " Now, the body is not for fornication, but 
for the Lord." (Here mark, the latter was its legit- 
imate, moral use ; the other is but a perversion.) 
"Your bodies," says he, "are the members of Christ. 
Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is 
in you." "Therefore, glorify God in your body 
and in your spirit, which are his." "I pray God 
that your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved 
blameless unto the coming of our Lord." He 
speaks of the unmarried woman, who "careth for 
the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both 
in body and spirit." Referring to the incessant 
persecutions they endured, he says, " We are always 
delivered unto death for Jesus's sake, that the life 
also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal 
flesh." Nothing can be plainer than that the apostle 
recognised the flesh, the body, its members, &c, as 



AS THE CAUSE OF SIN. 49 

the instrument of righteousness, if they were properly 
used, and that he makes it depend on the person's 
will, or faculty of determining whether they should 
be employed this way or in sin. In this one respect 
the body was merely an unconscious instrument, 
subject to the use and direction of the mind. 

At this stage it will be well to sum up what w r e 
have already ascertained of the apostle's real doctrine 
on the general subject : First, That the mind, the 
spirit of man, becomes itself corrupt ; and, if com- 
mon sense may be trusted, that here is the only 
seat of sin, in any sense that includes moral guilt, 
self-condemnation, remorse, repentance, &c. Second, 
That though an impulse towards sin is attributed to 
the body, yet the body may, nevertheless, be used to 
serve God, just as well as it may be used to transgress. 
And, third, That whether it shall be mnde to act for 
evil, or for good, depends not upon itself, but on the 
person, the moral agent, who determines the whole so 
far as respects the immediate cause. We think it 
will be seen at once, that this, the real meaning of St. 
Paul, is the same with that of the other inspired writers 
on the subject ; and that he differs from them only in 
the manner of expressing it, by a more frequeut and 
extensive use of the term flesh as a metaphor. 

We may now advance to another consideration. 
From the foregoing facts, it will be readily perceived, 
that whenever St. Paul speaks of the flesh, the body, 
or its members, as the seat of sin, he does not use 
those terms in their simple and proper sense, as de- 
noting the physical constitution. He means something 



50 FLESH, BODY, &c. ? 

else ; say, the influence that is exerted on the mind 
by the bodily appetites and senses ; or, which amounts 
to the same thing, the propensity of the person to 
submit to their control over the mind. This mav be 
clearly exemplified by his language in many passages. 
Speaking of a vicious person in the Corinthian church, 
he advises " to deliver such an one unto Satan, for 
the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be 
saved in the day of the Lord Jesus ;" where it would 
be absurd to suppose it his meaning, to destroy the 
flesh literally ; that is, to put the offender to death, 
or to maim him. It was, to correct the vicious habit 
and disposition he had formed, — to make him break 
his mental thraldom to sensual gratification. Again : 
alluding to the unconverted state in which his brethren 
had formerly been, the apostle says, "When we were 
in the flesh, the motions (literally passions) of sins, 
which were by the law, did work in our members to 
bring forth fruit unto death ;" where he implies that, 
though still living in the body, they were no longer 
in what he here calls the flesh, that is, in a moral state 
of subjugation to the senses. " So, then," he says, 
"they that are in the flesh cannot please God ; but ye 
are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the 
spirit of God dwell in you," — asserting what was 
implied in the former quotation, that while they were 
still in the flesh, literally speaking, they were not in 
the flesh as he uses the term. "And if Christ be in 
you, the body is dead because of sin ;" not, however, 
the physical body, for that would retain all its proper- 
ties ; but the affections prompted by it. "O wretched 



AS THE CAUSE OF SIN. 51 

man that I am," exclaims he, "who shall deliver me 
from the body of this death ?" — not that his wish 
was to die, to be delivered from this physical body ; 
for this was to be employed in the service of God ; 
and, moreover, he immediately adds, that the deliver- 
ance he sought was to be obtained "through the Lord 
Jesus Christ, " or through faith in him. In all these 
cases, it is evident that, by the flesh, the body, its 
members, &c, he means the domination of the senses, 
in the mind, to the neglect of the spiritual develop- 
ment of our nature. 

And now, as to the nature of that connection, 
which is thus recognised, between sin and the body, 
(using this latter term here in its proper signification) 
what is it when drawn out in detail, and stated in 
direct language ? Evidently, nothing more than the 
following: — The senses, so far as respects their out- 
ward organization, belong to the body ; for without 
the body we should, of course, have no organs of 
seeing, hearing, tasting, &c, nor any animal feeling, 
whether of animal pleasure to entice us, or of animal 
suffering to deter. These senses always lie in contact 
with the mind, with the will ; and they communicate 
to it impulses, which must be either controlled or 
yielded to, by some exertion of the mental power. 
If we mistake not, it is these impulsive influences 
which St. Paul, in the passage referred to, calls the 
flesh, body, members, &c; because, in most cases, at 
least, they proceed from the flesh. Up to this point, 
however, there is no sin in the case. But now, if the 
person voluntarily follows these impulses too far, or 



52 FLESH, BODY, &c, 

neglects to restrain them within their proper limits, 
then sin begins, and not till then, — beginy and con- 
tinues in his will, or governing faculty. To walk 
according to these impulses is what St. Paul means 
by walking according to the flesh ; to live in them is 
to live in the flesh, as he uses the term ; to have our 
minds subjected to them is to be carnally or fleshly 
minded ; to overcome their predominating influence 
is to destroy the body, or to crucify the flesh ; the 
affections and acts in which they result, when not 
controlled, are the works of the flesh, in his language. 
If we look back, it will be seen that the several 
views, which we have found so clearly presented in 
his general doctrine on the subject, do not admit of 
any closer connection than this, between the physical 
and moral elements of the case. He holds that the 
mind becomes corrupt, and needs to be renewed ; that 
the body may be used in the service of God, or in 
sin, just accordingly as the mind is disposed ; and 
whenever he speaks of the flesh, the body, or its 
members, as the agent of sin, the terms are highly 
metaphorical. The occasion of his using these terms 
in so remote a sense, was, probably, that they were 
suggested by some of the forms of Oriental philoso- 
phy, which prevailed among the learned, in his age 
and country. According to this, all evil was confined 
to matter, and all human sin to the flesh, simply as 
matter, which was supposed to be intrinsically corrupt, 
Nothing good could come of it, be it used in what 
way soever ; and our duty, with respect to it, was, to 
macerate and mortify the body itself, instead of at- 



AS THE CAUSE OF SIN. 53 

tempting the impracticable task of making it the in- 
strument of righteousness. The apostle, however, 
was very far from adopting that dor.trine, as we have 
seen, though he borrowed some ot its phraseology. 
This it was natural that he should do, accustomed as 
he must have been to hear its language employed on 
such subjects, in the circle in which he moved. 

A question may arise, whether, as matter of fact, 
every species of sin is necessarily connected with the 
physical body, either in this way or in any other. 
Many kinds of sin are, indeed, obviously so connected, 
at least in the outward form in which they are mani- 
fested ; while they still have their ultimate ground in 
some infirmity of the moral nature. Such are intem- 
perance and all excessive indulgence of the corporeal 
appetites ; and it is worthy of remark, that these are 
represented as sins of the flesh, lusts of the flesh, &c, 
by other inspired writers, as well as by St. Paul, and 
indeed by mankind in all ages. Then, there are the 
sins of overweening devotion to worldly objects, as 
the means of gratifying our senses ; and these may 
be brought into a remoter connection of the same 
kind. But it would be difficult, perhaps, to trace out 
any such relation, in the case of certain other sins, 
that lie deep in the human mind. What part, for 
instance, does the body appear to have in prompting 
the feelings, say, of pride, envy, selfishness, irrev- 
erence, &c. ? We will not deny that, in some way 
unknown, it may have an influence to excite them; 
but, so far as we can see, they affect the individual 
only as a conscious, intelligent being, in his relations 



54 FLESH, BODY, &c, AS THE CAUSE OF SIN. 

to other beings, no matter whether clothed in flesh or 
not. It would seem that he must be capable of those 
feelings in any condition in which self-esteem and 
self-love become excessive. It may be objected that 
St. Paul expressly names envy, and other feelings of 
the same class, among the works of the flesh. But 
considering in how remote a sense he unquestionably 
uses this term, here, we confess we have doubts 
whether he distinctly meant to assert that all those 
affections arose in the mind simply from its connection 
with the body. As the most obvious and striking sins 
were occasioned by that circumstance, is it unnatural 
to suppose that he might, in popular discourse and 
for convenience' sake, rank all the rest together in the 
same category, according to the technical phraseology 
to which he had been accustomed ? We will not, 
however, insist on this. If a phrenologist should 
plead that all these feelings are manifested through 
certain bodily organs, it would be sufficient to 
remind him that so, too, are benevolence, conscien- 
tiousness, reverence, &c, according to his science; 
and that if the former are, therefore, sins of the flesh, 
the latter are virtues of the flesh. The question is 
not, whether all these affections have peculiar organs 
by which they are manifested ; nor how they are 
manifested ; but, whence do they arise ? It should 
always be remembered, in inquiries of this kind, that 
phrenology, whether true or false, deals only with cir- 
cumstantials. It is but skull-deep, and does not 
reach down into the internal operations of the mind. 



CHAPTER IV. 

MATERIALISM. 

All who are in any considerable degree acquainted 
with the theological controversies of the present day, 
cannot be ignorant of the fact, that many minds have 
a strong tendency to materialism. We frequently hear 
those who profess to believe in the immortal destiny of 
our race, expressing doubts whether man is endowed 
with any higher powers than those which result from 
material organization. They agree with the materi- 
alist that mind is the effect of organization ; and when 
this is broken up by death, conscious existence ceases. 
Their faith in immortality is based on the resurrection, 
which they say is to be simultaneous with the whole 
human race, and to take place at some period yet 
future. All are to sleep in an unconscious state, "till 
the great rising day," then shall they go forth to an 
immortal life. 

But few words are needed to show the unsoundness 
of this theory. Nothing can be more unphilosophical 
than to say that mind is the result of organization ; 
for it is to say that an effect can be produced without 
a cause, or that matter can impart qualities which it 
never possessed. To substantiate this, let us enquire 
what are the qualities of matter before it is organized ? 
Are they intelligent ? Do they compare, reason, re- 
member, reflect? No; no one is so insane as to 



56 MATERIALISM. 

contend for this. Then if matter possesses no intel- 
ligence previous to organization, is it not absurd to 
say, it imparts what it never possessed, merely by 
being combined in a certain way ? Every effect 
must have an adequate cause. Unintelligent matter 
is not adequate to the production of intelligence. 
Therefore, whatever imparts or produces intelligence, 
must itself be intelligent. And as unorganized matter 
is not intelligent, it follows that it cannot impart prop 
erties which never belonged to it, however it may be 
arranged or combined. 

But again ; what is matter ? What it is in the ab- 
stract we cannot tell. What it is in its essence none 
but God can know. To the senses it appears in va- 
rious forms and under immutable principles of govern- 
ment, but absolutely negative of intellectual proper- 
ties. We know as little of spirit or mind, in the 
abstract, as we do of matter. All we can say of 
it is, that it thinks, reasons, invents, remembers, 
hopes, believes, doubts, loves, and is susceptible of 
pleasure or pain. We have as much reason to believe 
in the existence of the one as the other. We are 
conscious of the existence of both. 

He who is in the habit of looking into himself and 
noting w 7 hat passes there, is conscious of possessing 
a mind which is mysteriously connected with his per- 
ishable body. And consciousness is above all argu- 
ment. It is like a self evident proposition, which 
cannot be made plainer by the most luminous illus- 
trations, or stronger by the most logical deductions. 
The man who has clear optics, and stands under a 



MATERIALISM. 57 

cloudless sky at mid-day, needs no argument to prove 
to him that the sun shines. His consciousness of 
the fact transcends all arguments, however lucid or 
cogent. Like this fact, there are many other self 
evident truths, which cannot be made more credible 
by proof; the mind recognises them as axioms. All 
who are sane believe in their own existence, in the 
existence of the sensible world, in the existence of 
matter. But why do they thus believe? There can- 
not be a single argument adduced to prove either our 
own existence or that of the material world. We 
believe in the existence of both, not because we can 
prove that they exist, but because we are conscious of 
the fact, and this consciousness precludes the need 
of proof. How do we know that we are not beasts, 
stocks, or stones ? All we can say in reply is, we are 
conscious that we are neither wood, nor stones, nor 
brute beasts ; and nothing more in the way of proof 
is required or can be had. So are we conscious that 
the essential property which constitutes our identity, 
which we call the self, or the me, is not a figment of 
the brain, nor cannot be made more intense by any 
proof whatever, so far as we are able to discover. 

Hence, we have as good reason for believing in 
the existence of our moral and spiritual nature, as we 
have for believing that we exist at all, or that matter 
exists. 

When one says, "my hand, my foot, my brain" — 
what does he mean ? Does he mean that the brain 
belongs to the brain, and that the foot belongs to the 
foot, etc. ? No ; there is something behind all these, 



58 MATERIALISM. 

which we call the me, and to which all the bodily 
organs belong ; and were any of them destroyed, 
the me would still remain sound and perfect as before. 
But perhaps the materialist is ready to affirm that, if 
the head is severed from the body, the me is totally 
destroyed. In reply to this, it is sufficient to say, 
that there are doubtless "parts vital to the organization 
considered as a whole, but it does not follow, that 
these vital parts constitute the power, which moves, 
controls, and uses this organization. Take for an 
illustration, a mill turned by water power. There are 
many unessential parts added to extend its operation, 
and render the whole more perfect and exact. Let 
these be taken away, and yet the mill will go. But 
break down the water-wheel and the whole will stop. 
What then ? The water-power which drove the wa- 
ter-wheel, does that stop ? No. The communication 
only between the two has been cut off, and the work 
necessarily stops. Just so it is with the brain. De- 
stroy the brain, and you have cut off the communica- 
tion between the me, the self, and the organization ; 
and the whole organization dies. In the case of the 
mill, what represented the me, was not the whole 
machine, or the water-wheel, but the water-power ; 
and this will exist just as before, though the wheel 
stops or the whole mill be broken in pieces, and 
scattered to the four winds, or mouldered into dust." # 
The materials which compose the body of an indi- 
vidual at ten years of age, pass into other forms 
before he is twenty, and are replaced by other and 

* Dr. Walker's Lectures* 



MATERIALISM. 69 

different particles of matter ; yet the mind still retains 
its conscious ideality. And this fact is a strong proof 
that the mind of man, though closely connected with 
matter during this life, is still something distinct from 
matter. The individual, though his body may have 
changed a dozen times during his life, knows that he 
is still the same person — that his organization is the 
same ; yet what does his body or bodily organization 
know about this fact ? Just nothing at all. It is the 
mind that possesses this knowledge or conscious iden- 
tity, and ever will possess it, whatever changes the 
body may undergo. In opposition to this it is some- 
times argued, however, that when the body is mature 
and healthy, the mind has the most strength and ac- 
tivity ; but when disease fastens upon it and wastes 
it away, the mind seems to grow weak and decay with 
it, and that, therefore, the mind arises from bodily 
organization and becomes extinct when this organiza- 
tion is destroyed. The proper answer to this, is, that 
the spirit needs, and has material organs, through 
which it manifests itself, and holds intercourse with 
the outward world. These organs may be injured 
and destroyed by disease, and the mind, therefore, be 
deprived of the medium through which it acts on sen- 
sible things, but it no more follows that it is destroyed, 
than it follows that the painter's skill is destroyed 
because he has lost the hand with which he executed 
his works of art. Give him another hand and he will 
be able to manifest his talent ; so give the spirit a new 
and proper medium through which to act, and it will 
show that the destruction of the old organs has not 
impaired its own powers. 



60 MATERIALISM. 

It may be suggested here, perhaps, that the argu- 
ments we have employed to prove the immateriality 
of the human mind, will also prove that the sentient 
and thinking principle in brutes is of the same quality 
and destiny. But it should be noticed that there is a 
very great difference between the human mind and 
the brute mind. God has given to matter a variety 
of forms, and infused into each, powers and principles 
peculiar to the wants and destiny of each. The 
lowest in order is the mineral. It is fixed to the spot 
where it is found, by gravitation. It has no vitality, 
and grows by accumulation. One step above the 
mineral is found the vegetable kingdom. Here we 
find forms endowed with principles of life, and with 
power to rise above the surface of the ground. They 
are curiously wrought with delicate texture, and are 
susceptible of injury. The next in order is the ani- 
mal kingdom. Here we find life in its most perfect 
state. Locomotion is given to animals, so that they 
can move about on the earth and provide for their 
wants, and to a certain extent, defend themselves 
against injurious inflictions. They possess various pow- 
ers and capabilities which are denied all lower forms 
of matter. At the head of the animal kingdom stands 
man. Below him are animals of various forms and 
capabilities ; but among them all there is not one that 
can rise above the sphere which nature has assigned 
to those species to which it belongs. The snail can- 
not become a bird, nor the fly an eagle, nor the fish a 
lion ; nor any of the lower animals possess those pe- 
culiar elements which enter into the human mind and 



MATERIALISM. 61 

constitute man what he is. The power of progress 
is denied them. Their first piece of work is perform- 
ed as well as their thousandth — is as perfect. The 
honey-bee builds her comb with no more finish or 
completeness than her ancestors did fifty or even a 
thousand years ago ; nor does the bird her nest, nor 
the beaver his dam. Neither is wiser than its pro- 
genitors, neither is able to improve upon the first 
effort. We have abundant reason to believe that all 
the lower animals, which lived a thousand years ago, 
performed the tasks assigned them by the Creator as 
well as the same species perform them now. They 
have attained to their full powers when their physical 
growth is completed ; but it is not so with man ; he 
is not bounded in his attainments by the growth of the 
body ; he goes on improving, even when that is on 
the decline. 

Man is a moral being ; he recognizes a power above 
him, and feels amenable to its requirements. When 
he obeys, he feels an emotion of pleasure, and when 
he disobeys, he experiences pain. On the contrary, 
beasts have no idea of morality, and can never be 
trained so as to know the difference between virtue 
and vice. A dog will serve a thief as faithfully as he 
will an honest man ; and a horse will not refuse to 
help a murderer escape from justice. 

Man is a bein^r of reflection. He sits down and 
draws his plans, and reflects upon results, before 
he puts forth his hand to construct ; and he can 
always improve upon the first effort. But lower ani- 
mals do not reflect, nor do they improve by practice. 

4 



• s 



62 MATERIALISM. 

Many animals, it is true, seem to exercise reason and 
reflection ; but who supposes the bee reasons and re- 
flects when she is about to construct her comb, as a 
man does when he is about to rear a splendid edifice ? 
Who supposes the beaver makes a plan of his dam, 
before he begins to build it ? or the bird her nest ? 
In short, who supposes that the duckling, as soon as it 
is out of the shell, begins to reflect upon his new con- 
dition, and say — well, here I am, beside this pool of 
water, and it must be that I was made to swim in it; 
for I am web-footed, and my body seems formed to 
move in this element ; so I will try my luck upon it ? 
Or who supposes that the chicken which stands beside 
this young duck, begins to reason on the same subject 
and comes to a conclusion directly opposite to that of 
his web-footed companion, and therefore keeps out of 
the water ? 

Moreover, all the intelligence which an animal ever 
appears to possess, is confined in its exercise to the 
support of mere physical existence. It does not go 
beyond the outward and sensible life, and seems to 
have been given by the Creator, to aid the possessor 
in sustaining its present existence. It is satisfied 
when the demands of the body are supplied ; and it 
recognizes and desires no other life than the present. 
The human mind has propensities which are not re- 
quired to enable man to preserve his life and provide 
for the wants of his body ; which were bestowed for 
other and more glorious purposes. It has desires and 
wants which cannot be satisfied by things of time and 
sense, desires which continually stretch upward towards 
a higher life. 



MATERIALISM. 63 

Thus the difference between the brute mind, and 
the human, is as broad and impassable as the great 
gulf. The former is constituted with only the lowest 
functions of the animal degree; its manifestations are 
all of this character, and can never exhibit any thing 
more. On the other hand, the human mind possesses 
not only the lowest of the animal degree, but the 
highest of that degree ; and added to this are the 
degrees of spirit, which have demands not to be satis- 
fied by sensual gratifications ; so that man is endowed 
not only with all the faculties that belong to the ani- 
mal creation, but with those, also, that belong to the 
spiritual world. And they seem to have chosen him 
as a fit temple or dwelling place; consequently he man- 
ifests those things which a brute cannot, and which 
place him infinitely above the highest order of the 
animal creation. 



CHAPTER V. 

RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 

The most popular and prevalent view of immortal- 
ity is doubtless the following : The spirit or soul is 
immortal, and possesses the element of an eternal 
continuance of being, and is not dependenton organ- 
ization, or any combination of matter for existence. 
At death it goes immediately to the spirit-world, 
and is there arraigned before the Judge of the universe, 
tried, and sentenced, according to the deeds which it 
had done while in the body, either to heaven or to 
hell, as the case may be ; there to remain till the res- 
urrection and judgment, which are to take place at 
some period yet future, and simultaneously. It will 
then be rejudged and clothed upon with the same 
material body which it occupied while dwelling upon 
the earth, and be sent back to the same place of hap- 
piness or misery that held it while in a disembodied 
state; more, vastly more susceptible of pleasure or 
pain than it was before the old body was raised from 
the dust and fastened upon it. A few, perhaps re- 
ject that part of this theory which relates to the 
judgment and retribution; yet, believe that the spirit 
of man is immortal, and will, immediately after the 



RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 65 

death of the body, go to God and remain with Him, 
in some mysterious way, till the resurrection ; then it 
will be united again with the same material body, in 
which it dwelt while sojourning upon the earth. This 
body may undergo some change, but, nevertheless, it 
will still be the same body. 

The doctrine of the Resurrection, constituting, as it 
does, one of the main announcements of Christianity, 
and connecting itself with the most sacred hopes of 
the believer, urges its claims upon our profound atten- 
tion. It is, indeed, a doctrine which is seldom inter- 
rogated. It is considered, for the most part, as one of 
those mysterious disclosures which are commended to 
our naked credence, and about which we are not to 
indulge a speculative curiosity or to ask prying ques- 
tions. It is supposed, by the mass of Christians, that 
we are to regard the Resurrection in no other light 
than as a simple fact, the truth of which we are to 
receive on the bare authority of the Divine Word, 
and the accomplishment of which we are to expect 
solel) on the ground of Divine Omnipotence. But is 
there, indeed, any interdict laid upon inquiry in this 
department rather than any other? Is the subject 
fenced about with a balustradingof sanctity, which it is 
a sacrilege or profanation to attempt to pass through ? 
Must we not, necessarily, submit every position, pro- 
pounded in revelation, to that intelligence by which 
alone vvetan understand it? Understand it, we say, 
for we must understand it, in order to believe it. Let 
us, then, be apprehended aright. We say that we 
must understand a proposition, in order to believe it. 



66 RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 

We may not, indeed, understand the mode in which 
the asserted fact or truth exists ; the verbal proposi- 
tion affirming it we must understand, or we cannot 
believe it. That all material bodies gravitate to the 
earth, is a fact, the mode of which I do not by any 
means comprehend ; but I have no difficulty in under- 
standing the proposition which affirms the fact. * # * 
In like manner, we do not hesitate to assert, that al- 
though it may not be possible to comprehend the 
mode in which the resurrection of the body may be 
brought about, yet I must understand the terms in 
which the doctrine is announced. In other words, I 
must be able to affix an intelligible sense to the lan- 
guage employed for that purpose. Yet here is pre- 
cisely the difficulty in regard to the doctrines as 
popularly held. We ask for a plain and explicit 
statement of the doctrine. What is the proposition, 
the belief of which will constitute me a believer in 
the doctrine of the resurrection of the body ? To 
one who has not particularly reflected on the subject 
it might seem that there were no special difficulty on 
this score, but a closer consideration will probably 
reveal to multitudes of minds the vagueness and 
obscurity of their previous conceptions. 

Should it be replied, in general terms, to our ques- 
tion, that the truth claiming credence is that the body, 
which we consign to the dust, is again to be raised 
and re-animated at some future day ; we rejoin at 
once, that this reply does not cover the ground of 
the difficulty. The simple assertion that the dead 
body is to be raised does not constitute an intelligible 



RESURRECT10JN OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 67 

proposition, for the reason that it leaves it utterly 
uncertain what body is meant. * * * * No fact in 
physiological science is better ascertained than that 
the human body, in regard to its constituent particles, 
is in a state of constant flux. It is perpetually un- 
dergoing a process of waste and reparation. Strictly 
speaking, no man has the same body now that he had 
seven years ago, as it is in about this period that a 
complete change is held to take place in the bodily 
structure, by which we may be said to be corpore- 
ally renovated. This is a fact established by phys- 
iology, and the proof of it, we believe, is entirely 
beyond question, and must form an indispensable ele- 
ment in any judgment which we pronounce upon the 
subject. The phrase, the body, does not accurately 
represent the object intended, if the idea conveyed by 
it be restricted to the body as existing at any one 
moment. The idea of existence in continuity is in- 
dispensable to it. The question, then, again recurs — 
What body is to be raised ? A person who dies at 
seventy has had ten different bodies. Which of these 
is to be the body of the resurrection ? Is it the body 
of infancy, of childhood, of youth, of manhood, or 
of old age ? Or is it the aggregate of all these ? If 
we go back to the days of the Antediluvians, and 
apportion the number of the bodies of Methuselah, 
for instance, to the length of his life, and then suppose 
the whole to be collected into one vast corporeity, 
we should indeed be reminded that, as " there were 
giants in those days," so there will be giants in the 
day of the resurrection. 



68 RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE, 

It is obvious that a very grave difficulty from this 
source pertains to the prevalent theory of the resurrec- 
tion of the bodv, and one which we discover no mode 
of obviating on that theory. In the following extracts 
from "Pearson on the Creed," whose statements of 
doctrine are, for the most part, singularly luminous, 
and who has, perhaps, enunciated this doctrine with 
more explicitness than almost any other writer, it will 
be seen that his explanation goes, throughout, upon a 
basis that fails to recognize entirely any such principle 
of incessant change, in the bodily structure, as a sound 
physiology forces us to admit. Whether he was not 
aware of the fact in question, or did not duly appre- 
ciate its bearings upon the grand point in debate, we 
know not ; but it obviously leaves the doctrine open to 
the fuli force of an objection, which, as it could not be 
expected to have occurred to the ancient fathers of the 
church, would neither be likely to have arrayed itself 
before the mind of one who was principally occupied 
in embodying their opinions on the various articles of 
the Christian creed. "That the same body, not any 
other, shall be raised to life, which died ; that the 
same flesh, which was separated from the soul at the 
day of death, shall be united to the soul at the last day; 
that the same tabernacle which was dissolved shall be 
raised up again ; that the same temple which was 
destroyed shall be rebuilt, is most apparent out of the 
same word, most evident upon the same grounds 
upon which we believe there shall be any resurrec- 
tion." (Art. xi., p. 568.) So again, in a subsequent 
paragraph, "We can, therefore, no otherwise expound 



RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 69 

this article, teaching the resurrection of the body, than 
by asserting that the bodies, which have lived and died, 
shali live again after death, and that the same flesh 
which is corrupted shall be restored ; whatsoever al- 
teration shall be made shall not be of their nature, 
but of their condition ; not of their substance but of 
their qualities." So in various other passages he reit- 
erates again and again the assertion, that it is the same 
body that died that is to be raised, and even intimates 
that this identity is essentially involved in the very term 
insurrection. So that when I say there shall be a res- 
urrection of the dead, I must intend thus much, that 
the bodies of men which live and are dead shall re- 
vive and rise again. For at the death of man nothing 
falleth but the body, 'the spirit goeth upward,' and no 
other body falleth but his own ; and therefore the 
body, and no other but that body, must rise again to 
make a resurrection. If we look upon it under the 
notion of reviviscency, which is more ordinary in the 
Hebrew language, it proves as much, for nothing prop- 
erly dieth but the body ; the soul cannot be killed ; 
and nothing can revive but that which dieth. Or, to 
speak more punctually, the man falleth not in respect 
of his spirit, but of his flesh ; and therefore he cannot 
be said to rise again but in respect of his flesh which 
fell; man dieth not in reference to his §oul, which is 
immortal, but his body ; and therefore he cannot be 
said to revive but in reference to his body before de- 
prived of life ; and because no other flesh fell at his 
death, no other body died but his own, therefore he 
cannot arise again but in his own flesh, he cannot 

4* 



70 RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 

revive again but in his own body." (Art. xi. p. 

568.; 

In all this it is palpable that no regard is had to 
the physiological objection which we are urging, and 
which is altogether of too serious a nature to be over- 
looked in any formal statement of the doctrine; yet 
the able and excellent bishop, now quoted, tells us that 
from this "we may easily perceive what every man is 
obliged to believe, and understood to profess, when he 
confesseth a belief of the resurrection of the body ; 
for thereby he is conceived to declare thus much : I 
am fully persuaded of this as of a most necessary and 
infallible truth, that as it is appointed for all men 
once to die, so is it also determined that all men shall 
rise from death ; that the souls, separated from our 
bodies, are in the hand of God and live; that the 
bodies, dissolved into dust or scattered into ashes, shall 
be re-collected in themselves and re-united to their 
souls ; that the same flesh which lived before shall be 
revived; that the same numerical bodies which did 
fall shall rise ; that the resuscitation shall be universal, 
no man excepted, no flesh left in the grave ; that all 
the just shall be raised to a resurrection of life, and all 
the unjust to a resurrection of damnation ; that this 
shall be performed at the last day, when the trump 
shall sound; and thus I believe the resurrection of 

THE BODY. " 

But can this be an intelligent belief? What definite 
ideas can any man attach to the terms in which the 
doctrine is conveyed ? Can any one believe in oppo- 
sition to his positive knowledge? Now we know 



RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UJN REASONABLE. 71 

that the bodies, deposited in the graves, are not the 
same bodies with those that previously existed in the 
order of physical succession. If the language above 
quoted be construed in the utmost strictness of its 
import, it forces upon us the conclusion, that the iden- 
tical body, from which the soul took its departure at 
the hour of death, is the body the particles of which 
are to be re-collected and re-constructed at the era of 
the resurrection. But why shall the preference be 
given to these particular bodies, when, as it is well 
known, they are often withered and wasted by con- 
sumptions, swollen by dropsies, mangled by wounds, 
made hideous by deformities, curtailed of limbs, or 
become partially putrid by gangreens ? If the mate- 
rial particles of the body are to be re-assembled at all, 
why not rather suppose that it will be those which 
composed it in the period of its prime, in its utmost 
vigor and beauty ? But the truth is, the whole theory 
proceeds upon a fundamental fallacy, which a single 
glance of the mental eye detects. The resurrection 
body is to be a spiritual and not a material body. 
The re-assemblage of material particles can result 
only in the re-construction of a material body, and a 
material body cannot be at the same time spiritual ; at 
least, we may confidently affirm that the same material 
body cannot be at the same time spiritual, although 
we are aware that St. Paul's expression, u a spiritual 
body," is understood by some to denote a body 
adapted to spiritual uses, instead of implying one 
that is metaphysically spiritual, in contradistinction 
from material. But, taken in either sense, the asser* 



72 RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 

tion above quoted involves contradictory ideas. A 
material body is a body of flesh and blood ; but "flesh 
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." 

But, waving all objections on this score, the doctrine 
of the resurrection of the same body, in any sense 
whatever, encounters difficulties in our view absolutely 
insuperable, arising from the changes and new com- 
binations which the particles of the dead body under- 
go in the interval between death and the resurrection. 
Who does not know that the luxuriant vigor and 
verdure of the wheat crops, waving over the field of 
Waterloo, are owing to a source of fertility which the 
Belgic husbandman never conveyed to the soil ? 

Rich harvests wave where mighty Troy once stood, 
Birth of a soil made fat by Phrygian blood. 

The putrescent relics of the goodly structure which 
once enshrined a human soul are resolved into the 
dust of the earth. The dust springs up in the varied 
forms of vegetable life. The beasts of the field crop 
the grasses and herbs which derive their succulence 
from the constituent material of the bodies of buried 
men. Out of these eaters comes forth sweetness, and 
the flesh which was fed by the flesh of the fathers 
goes to the sustenance of the flesh of the sons. To 
whom shall these particles belong in the day of their 
final recall from the varied compositions ? Will it not 
require the whole vegetable and animal world to be 
decomposed, in order to extricate the assimilated por- 
tions and give to each his due ? And how can the 
matter ever be adjusted ? The particles that now be- 
long to one body have previously belonged to some 



RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 73 

other ; whose shall they be in the resurrection ? — as 
the Sadducees asked respecting the wife of seven hus- 
bands. And what shall we say of the case of those 
who have fallen victims to the barbarous rage and 
horrid hankerings of cannibals ? Who shall be the 
rightful claimants, in the day of adjudication, when 
specific particles have been incorporated, by perfect 
assimilation, into two different bodies? 

We are aware of the answer which Augustin (De 
Civit. Dei, Lib. xxiv. C. 20,) returns to this form of 
the objection : "The flesh in question shall be re- 
stored to the man in whom it first became human 
flesh ; for it is to be considered as borrowed by the 
other man, and, like borrowed money, to be returned 
to him from whom it was taken. " But the difficulty 
is to find the first proprietor. In the endless cycles of 
change, it is scarcely more the work of imagination 
than of reason to conceive, that a portion of the mat- 
ter which once entered into the body of Goliath of 
Gath may have found its way into Alexander's horse, 
Bucephalus, from which it might be traced till lodged 
in the person of some dancing dervish of an eastern 
city, whirling about in as many antic gyrations as 
ever did Bucephalus himself, when attempted to be 
mounted by any one but his royal rider. But suppose 
the sojourning particles to be traced back to the giant 
of the Philistines, have we reached their ultimate des- 
tination ? Whence did he obtain them? May there 
not have been a prior claimant still ? And may not 
his title be challenged by another still prior, and so on 
indefinitely ? Suppose an individual body, at the 



74 RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 

present day, to consist of a million particles; what 
is easier than to conceive that each of these par- 
ticles was derived from one of a million bodies that 
have lived in former ages ? If these bodies were 
each to claim its own, on the ground of the same right 
which the present possessor has to them, what would 
be left to him from whence to form a resurrection 
body ? But each one of this million of bodies 
might, perhaps, owe its component particles in like 
manner to as many predecessors ; and we think it a 
fair question whether, if we were to follow out the 
supposition to its legitimate results, it would not com- 
pel the conclusion, that the whole human race must 
be resolved back into Adam ; and every animal, and 
every vegetable, back into the first animal and the 
first plant ever created. 

The objection, which constitutes the burden of our 
present argument, obviously resolves itself into the 
difficulty of conceiving of any fixed relation between 
the body that dies and the body that is raised. So 
far as we are able to apprehend the prevalent senti- 
ments of the Christian world in regard to this subject, 
they suppose that the same body, which is consigned to 
its native dust, is at some distant day, and in some un- 
known manner, to be raised again and reconstructed, 
and the disembodied spirit, after a long exile, to be 
restored to its primitive habitation, newly fashioned 
and furnished by the hand of Omnipotence. To this 
view we urge the objection, that, by the law of animal 
economy, the body in this life is continually changing, 
and consequently that it conveys no definite concep- 



RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 75 

tion to the mind to say that the body will he raised, 
unless it is clearly specified what particular body is 
meant. Nothing is clearer than that the principle 
above stated enforces the necessary admission of a 
succession of bodies ; and if so, we are at liberty to 
demand which one of the series is to be raised. If a 
man retained precisely the same body unchanged 
from his natal to his dying day, the difficulty would 
not be so glaringly insurmountable ; but even in that 
case, as the resurrection body is to be a spiritual 
body, it confounds our faculties to attempt to imag- 
ine of what use the former material and fleshly par- 
ticles are to be in the formation of a purely spiritual 
body. Is it not as easy for Omnipotence to form a 
spiritual body entirely new, without reference to 
any pre-existing materials, as to elaborate one out of 
the gross component parts of a previous body ? And 
is not Mr. Locke's remark, in his letter to Stilling- 
fleet, perfectly well founded, that "it would be hard 
to determine, if that were demanded, what greater 
congruity the soul hath with any particles of matter 
which were once united to it, but are now so no 
longer, than it hath with particles of matter that 
were never united to it?" 

We repeat, then, that the common view of the 
resurrection Jabors, in our opinion, fatally on the 
score of a conceivable relation between the present 
and future body. Even admitting, as of course we 
must, that the power of God is competent to form 
bodies of the same external configuration, but of 
more glorious texture, and to unite disembodied 



76 RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 

souls with them, still the question forces itself upon 
us — What relation exists between the original,, pu- 
trefied, decomposed and dissipated body, and the 
sublimated, glorious, incorruptible fabric which is to 
succeed? what the relations in virtue of which I 
can call such a body mine, and say, " Behold my 
body, raised from the tomb and animated anew !" 

We know it is common for poets and poetical de- 
claimers to give loose to imagination, and portray a 
scene which shall work powerfully on the passions, 
while at the same- time it is as far from scriptural 
truth as it is from sound philosophy. Thus, in 
Young's poem, entitled u The Last Day," we have 
the germ of a multitude of similar descriptions, 
which have been amplified to pages of homiletic 
declamation ; as, for instance, in the sermons of 
Pres. Davies, and also in one of the eloquent dis- 
courses of the Rev. Mr. Melville, of London : — 

" Now monuments prove faithful to their trust, 
And render back their long committed dust; 
Now charnels rattle ; scattered limbs, and all 
The various bones, obsequious to the call, 
Self-moved advance ; the neck, perhaps, to meet 
The distant head ; the distant head the feet ; 
Dreadful to view, see, through the dusky sky, 
Fragments of bodies in confusion fly, 
To distant regions journeying, there to claim 
Deserted members and complete the frame." 

What shall we say to this ? In the view of sober 
reason, is it any thing but a poet's dream? And 
what is the chaff to the wheat ? "He that hath a 
dream, let him tell a dream ; and he that hath my 



RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 77 

word, let him declare my word." Such descriptions, 
wrought into pulpit discourses, can be considered as 
nothing else than pulpit rhapsodising, by which the 
cause of truth is any thing but a gainer. But this 
is a view of the subject approaching too near to 
caricature to be admitted as the bona fide belief of 
sensible men, and as such entitled to serious reflec- 
tion, and therefore we do not dwell upon it. 

But, waving all that can be justly deemed extrav- 
agant in the prevailing sentiments on the subject, 
we still find a large residuum of the improbable and 
the incredible in that which is propounded to our 
reception. Guided by the mere letter of Scripture, 
it is common to hear mention made of the body's 
being raised from the grave, at the sound of the 
last trumpet, and of its coming out of the tomb or 
sepulchre in which it was interred. This we con- 
cede is Scripture language, and the simple use of 
the ipsessema verba of the Holy Spirit can never 
be a ground of censure towards any man who uses 
it with pure motives. Still we are at full liberty to 
inquire into its meaning, and to institute the most 
rigid comparison between the literal averments of 
Holy Writ and the inevitable deductions of our 
reason, founded upon the ascertained results of sci- 
ence ; nor is it possible that the import of the in- 
spired oracles, when rightly understood, should ever 
be such as to compel us to forego the clear and 
legitimate conclusions, which are forced upon us by 
the just exercise of our rational faculties. ( The 
sense, however, which we are constrained to put 



78 RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 

upon the letter of the Sacred Record, may be dif- 
ferent from that which is most natively obvious, and 
such as would never have occurred to us, but from 
an apparent conflict between the literal interpretation 
and the known facts or irresistible inferences derived 
from other sources — a point upon which we shall 
have more to say in the sequel.) In the present in- 
stance it is unquestionable that the words, quoted 
from our Saviour's address to the Jews, do encoun- 
ter a very formidable difficulty arising from the in- 
dubitable fact, that thousands and millions of hu- 
man bodies that were once deposited in graves are 
not there now, and never will be again. Their 
tombs are cenotaphs, or empty monuments, in every 
sense of the word. Where now are the tenants of 
hundreds of the cemeteries of Egypt, whose mum- 
my-remains have been from age to age consumed 
for fuel, or transferred, in the form of medicine, to 
the jars upon the apothecaries' shelves ? They cer- 
tainly are no longer to be found in the rocky repos- 
itories in which they were piously bestowed by the 
hand of survivors. When our Lord's language, 
therefore, is applied to cases like these, and it is af- 
firmed that these bodies are to be raised out of their 
graves at the last <lay, how is it to be reconciled 
with the fact now adverted to? Let it not be said 
that this is an infidel objection, prompted by a proud 
preference of human reason to the teachings of in- 
spired wisdom. The question is, Is it a valid objec- 
tion ? If so, it is entitled to regard, by whomsoever 
proposed. Nothing is gained by blinking or black- 



RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 79 

ening the allegation of real difficulties in any part of 
the sacred writings. 

We do not, of course, urge the objection as bearing 
at all against the fact of a future existence in another 
state. But we are at liberty to demand of any one 
who affirms at this day, respecting a body that was 
buried, say four thousand years ago, that it is to 
come out of its burying-place, what he means by the 
assertion, when, in point of fact, not a particle of it 
remains there — when it has passed partly into other 
forms of vegetable and animal life, and partly into 
imponderable gasses. So far as this affirmation builds 
itself upon the express declaration of Jesus, we 
would ever interrogate [its import with the pro- 
foundest reverence ; but still we would interrogate 
it, nor do we conceive that a due respect to the 
words of inspiration requires us to rest contented 
with ideas that have nothing in them definite or 
precise. Under this impression we scruple not to 
reject, as containing unfair and injurious imputa- 
tions, the sentiment of the following extract from 
Witsius, (Dissert, on the Apos. Creed, Vol. n. p. 
424,) who thus descants upon the philosophical ob- 
jection we are now urging : " In fact, this objection 
discovers a preposterous curiosity, and an immode- 
rate love of refinement, which, however, it is not im- 
possible to repress by satisfactory arguments. Even 
although we could find nothing more particular to say 
in reply, is it fit that we should bring forward our 
reason, so feeble, so diseased, so enveloped in thick 
darkness, and so defiled by numerous corruptions, to 



80 RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UJN REASONABLE. 

weigh and measure the wisdom and power of God, 
his faithfulness in his promises, and his admirable 
providence and incredible facility in removing the 
greatest possible difficulties ? Truly that man cher- 
ishes most unworthy thoughts of God, who deter- 
mines to believe him in nothing but what he is able 
to investigate and comprehend, in its entire nature and 
mode, by the force of his own understanding. We 
make this remark, however, not because we have no 
other answer to return to the objection ; but because, 
when human reason replies against God, it is useful 
again and again to inculcate, that nothing is more 
just and proper than that, in its inquiries into divine 
mysteries, it should lay aside all murmurings, and 
allow itself to be subdued into the obedience of 
faith." Human reason is undoubtedly required to 
assume an attitude of the deepest deference and do- 
cility in reference to divine teachings, but she can 
never be required to forego her own attributes in 
dealing with an alleged revelation from heaven ; and 
this enjoined subjection to the obedience of faith is 
often, in truth, little else than a virtual quenching of 
that candle of the Almighty which he has himself 
lighted up within us. 

But we return to the objection. We say that the 
letter of the inspired record announces a fact appar- 
ently at variance with other facts, which carry with 
them an authority no less imperative to our natural 
understanding. How can a body come out of the 
grave that is not there ? It is palpable that the lan- 
guage must be limited, modified, qualified in some 



RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 81 

way, in order to be made accordant with known facts. 
We shall consider the passage more at length in the 
sequel ; but we observe, at present, so far as it is 
pleaded in proof of the resurrection of the same 
body, or, indeed, of any material body at all, its tes- 
timony necessarily loses its effect, so long as the ob- 
vious conflict between the letter and the fact remains 
unremoved. We are aware it may be replied, 
that no one can positively affirm that all the dust 
has disappeared from the place where it was depos- 
ited — that some relics of the entombed body may 
yet remain to form a nucleus of the reconstructed 
fabric. This we believe to be a very prevalent 
opinion in regard to the point in question. The 
dominant impression throughout Christendom is not, 
we think, that the entire body which was laid down 
at death is resumed at the resurrection, but rather 
that certain parts of it, more or less, are in some 
way preserved from extinction, and, like a germ in 
vegetation, are transferred from the old to the new 
structure, between which they constitute the indis- 
pensable link in the chain of continuous identity. 
But to say nothing of the utter lack of evidence 
that any such transfer takes place — nothing of the 
intrinsic incompatibility of material and spiritual 
elements in the same fabric — we are unable to per- 
ceive upon what grounds a diminutive portion of a 
dissolved and discarded human body can be said to 
constitute that body in its restored state. We can 
imagine an old house taken down, and a few of its 
timbers or shingles to enter into the materials of a 



82 RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 

new one ; but would this be termed a rebuilding of 
the former edifice ? So in regard to the former and 
latter body. The solution labors under an insuper- 
able difficulty, from not defining how much of the 
one is necessary for rendering it a renewal of the 
other. We are utterly nonplussed to master the prin- 
ciple on which the insertion" of a few particles of the 
former body into the latter shall properly denomi- 
nate it the resurrection of that body. 

The remarks, now made, are made on the admis- 
sion that there may, in some cases, be a residuum, 
small though it be, of the corporeal mass remaining 
in the grave after the lapse of hundreds or thousands 
of years. The probability, for the most part, we 
doubt not, would be against this as a matter of fact; 
but in order to present the difficulty in its strongest 
light, we will suppose a case about which there can 
be no doubt. The rights of sepulture — the modes 
of disposing of the dead — have always been differ- 
ent among different nations ; and of the whole 
number of the race of man, who have hitherto lived 
and died, it is very doubtful whether the majority 
of them have been buried, in the ordinary sense of 
the term. However this may be, we know that 
cremation, or burning, has ever been, and still is, 
practised among several eastern nations. Now in 
order to present the difficulty in the case before us 
in its full strength, we will suppose that, in a suffi- 
cient lapse of time, the bodies of five hundred Hin- 
doo widows are consumed on the funeral piles of 
their husbands, on some lofty mountain peak. In 



RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 83 

the process of combustion it is evident, by the laws 
of chemistry, a considerable portion of the solids 
and fluids of the system pass into invisible gasses, 
which are lost in the immensity of the atmosphere, 
while the only perceptible residuum from each body 
is a little handful of ashes, which, instead of being 
gathered up and enclosed in cinerary urns, we will 
suppose to be scattered by the winds to the four 
quarters of heaven. 

Now it will doubtless be said that these bodies, 
like all others, are to be raised again at the last day. 
But what is meant by this language ? How — in 
what sense — are these bodies to be raised ? The 
question is not whether these persons are to live 
again. That is beyond question. But what is to 
be understood by these bodies being said to be raised 
at the final consummation ? Raised out of graves 
they certainly will not be, for they were never in 
graves ; and as to any germ, that may possibly be 
conceived of in respect to inhumed bodies, where 
is it here ? The elements of these bodies, after 
having been submitted to the action of the fire, are 
scattered through the universe, and we cannot con- 
ceive of any mode by which they can be said to be 
raised up, except by the re-gathering and re-construc- 
tion of the dispersed atoms, and to this Omnipo- 
tence is undoubtedly competent. But does this re- 
lieve the difficulty ? Does this bring us to the true 
scriptural view of the resurrection ? Is it the genu- 
ine doctrine of the resurrection, that identical paro- 
tides of the former body are to be re-assembled and 



84 RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 

formed into the renovated fabric ? Will not this 
constitute a body of flesh and blood, which we are 
expressly assured cannot inherit the kingdom of 
God? 

Again then we ask, What is meant by the resur- 
rection of the body, and what relation which the 
body that dies bears to the body that is raised ? We 
cannot convict ourselves of irreverence in proposing 
these questions. They are forced upon us by the 
very laws of that reason with which the Creator has 
endowed us, and with which the dicta of revela- 
tion, when rightly understood, must, by inevitable 
necessity, accord. If the announcements of that holy 
volume can only be received by the surrender of our 
intelligence, and by a violent suppression of the voice 
which it utters, how is it ever to command the as- 
sent of any but minds of the lowest order ? 

But we shall, perhaps, be referred to the analogies 
of the vegetable world, and be reminded of "Paul's 
striking illustration, drawn from the sown seed and 
the upspringing plant, in which we are to recognize 
the most fitting emblem of the resurrection. We 
readily admit the general force of the analogy ; but 
we shall perceive, if we mistake not, on a close ex- 
amination, that the phenomena of the vegetable 
world illustrate the subject in a different way from 
what is generally imagined, and favor entirely a 
different construction. It is well known that through- 
out the whole kingdom of vegetation, the new plant 
arises from some inwrapped and latent germ or 
stamen, to which the vital principle of the plant 



RESURRECTtOxN OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 85 

adheres, and under the plastic and organific power of 
which the new plant is developed. If the vital 
germ of a plant dies, we look in vain for its revival 
in any form. But when the germ lives, and the 
conditions are favorable, we confidently anticipate 
its re-appearance in due season upon the surface of 
the earth, and its advancement through the several 
stages of its growth to full maturity, when it will 
be in the main a fac simile of its parent. But in all 
this process we, can trace the uninterrupted contin- 
uance of life. There is no break in the chain of 
vital operation, and consequently we are not diffi- 
culted at all on the score of the relation which the 
new plant bears to the old. Although it undergoes 
a great change of form, and the numerical particles 
are in a state of constant transition, yet so long as 
we can keep our eye on the unbroken thread of life, 
we have no hesitation in saying that there is a con- 
sistent sense in which it is the same plant. But 
suppose that a kernel of corn were planted to-day, 
in the valley of the Mississippi, where it undergoes 
the usual process of decomposition, and a century 
hence, without any removal of the dust, a stalk of 
corn should spring up on the plains of Hindostan, 
and we should be told that that was the product 
of the seed dropped in the soil of the Western 
continent, could we comprehend the possibility of 
the fact ? Could we perceive the relation of the 
two ? Now this presents very fairly the difficulty 
in regard to the resurrection of the body. The 
difficulty arises from the break in the continuity of 

5 



86 RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE, 

the vital operations. While the body is alive, the 
vital functions are indissolubly connected with the 
presence and functions of the soul. When death 
takes place, the principle, to which the animation 
of the body was owing, departs, and leaves the 
body a mass of inert, lifeless matter, subject, like 
all other matter, to the action of chemical agencies, 
by which it is gradually resolved into it-s primitive 
elements. Where, then, do we, or can we, detect 
any thing like a germ or staminal principle, by the 
action of which a new body can ever be developed 
out of the remains of the former? It is precisely 
the case of a plant, the germ of which has been 
decomposed and destroyed. Docs not that plant, 
as a matter of course, lose its reproductive power? 
Throw a seed into the fire, and what prospect of 
its germination ? Submit a human body to the 
flames, and then say whether the effect upon the 
vital principle, or the vital portion, whatever it may 
be, is not the same as in the case of the plant. 
Do not the same natural causes which forbid the 
requickening of the one forbid that of the other 
also? This we say on the hypothesis — and it is 
nothing more — that there is any thing in the human 
body, apart from the soul, answering to the vital 
germ of the plant. (But, in truth, the vital princi- 
ple of the body is indissolubly connected — we do 
not say identical with the soul.) If the body is 
again to be animated, it must be by the re-infusion of 
the soul ; a position, in view of which two objections 
at once array themselves in interrogative form before 



RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 87 

the mind : — 1. How is the body to be forthcom- 
ing at the appointed time, when it has become 
blended with an infinity of other organizations, and 
when different human bodies have an equal claim to 
the particles composing it ? 2. Supposing that 
Omnipotence should adjust this difficulty, will the 
re-construction of the original materials of the flesh- 
ly body form the spiritual body, which we conceive 
to be that of the resurrection ? And if a change 
take place virtually equivalent to a new creation, 
how can this be termed the resurrection of the same 
body? On any ground, therefore, we perceive the 
immense difficulty of establishing a definite or con- 
ceivable illation between the body that dies and the 
body that is raised. 

Let us now turn for a moment from the vegetable 
to the animal kingdom, and note the organisms in 
that world of wonders. The result we shall find to 
be the same. We see the grovelling and unsightly 
caterpillar or silk worm cast off its gross exuviae, 
and forth issues, after certain ordained transforma- 
tions, the brisk and beautiful winged insect, soaring 
upward in an element entirely new, and with a body 
curiously adapted to the sphere into which its exis- 
tence is transferred. Though it has not the same 
body, yet we have no hesitation in saying it is the 
same creature which we beheld, creeping in peristaltic 
movement along the ground. And we say it is the 
same, because we perceive here also the unbroken 
continuity of the vital principle, the true seat and 
subject of animal identity, We have no difficulty 



88 RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 

in recognizing the relation between the primitive 
and the ultimate oganisms. (The one is visibly 
developed out of the other, without one moment's 
cessation of the functions of life.) But let us sup- 
pose, for a moment, that the caterpillar should die 
and moulder to dust before this transformation, 
according to the laws of nature, had taken place ; 
should we look for the emergence, at any future 
time, of the butterfly from the relics of the grub? 
Or, if we allow ourselves to imagine that, one hun- 
dred or five hundred years after the worm had 
passed away, an insect should appear, flapping its 
gilded wings over the very spot where the preced- 
ing structure was decomposed, and we should be 
told that that butterfly was the same being, trans- 
formed, with the caterpillar that had perished there 
ages before, could we by any possibility grasp the 
ideas involved in the affirmation ? All the relation 
that we could discern between the one and the other 
would be that of priority and posteriority of time. 
Now this, we contend, is precisely the difficulty 
that weighs upon the common theory of the resur- 
rection of the body. According to this theory there 
is just that break — that huge interruption — in the 
continuous agency of the vital principle, which 
makes it so impossible to discover or define the re- 
lation between the buried and beatified body. The 
latent link which connects the two entirely escapes 
detection, and yet it is upon the presence of this link 
alone, that we can predicate identity of the two 
structures. Thousands and millions of bodies per- 



RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 89 

ished in the universal deluge. Some of these were 
probably devoured by the monsters of the deep, and 
entered into combination with their bodies. Others, 
after the waters had retired and left them exposed 
on the surface of the earth, were slowly resolved 
back again into their primordial elements, and have 
since passed through countless mutations. The 
question is, whether the true doctrine of the resur- 
rection requires us to believe that these dispersed 
materials are to be re-collected again, and to enter 
into the composition of spiritual bodies ? If that 
is the case with the antediluvian dust, it doubtless 
is with all other ; and how this is to be effected, 
without taking to pieces and unravelling, as it 
were, the whole framework of Nature, surpasses 
conception. And if this is to be the case, when ? 
Is it to be at the period denominated the last day, 
when it is for the most part held that the conflagra- 
tion of the heavens and earth is to take place ? If 
such be unequivocally the divine testimony, we must 
of course receive it. But it would surely seem to 
human view, a priori, a strange and incomprehensible 
procedure, that the re-gathering of these scattered 
particles, the re-building of these dilapidated human 
temples, should be going on in the midst of this 
scene of " telluric combustion ! " 

It is obvious, beyond question, that the popular 
theory reduces us to great extremities of solution. 
Indeed, we see not but that the difficulties which 
cluster about it are absolutely insuperable ; and if 
Faith has only this view of the resurrection to pre- 



90 RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE, 

sent to Philosophy, we cannot perceive any ground 
for wonder that Philosophy should be slow to re- 
ceive it ; and yet Philosophy and Faith, like Right- 
eousness and Peace, in the economy of God, are, and 
must be, wedded together. True philosophy — and 
we are here speaking of no other — can never — 
never — be in conflict with true faith. 

There is doubtless a great variety of shades in the 
prevalent belief on this subject ; yet we cannot, we 
think, be mistaken in regarding it as the general sen- 
timent, that notwithstanding there is a very long and 
indefinite period to elapse, between death and the 
resurrection, yet that the future body, when re-pro- 
duced by the power of Omnipotence, is to be in some 
way connected with, and raised out of, the existing 
remains of the corporeal fabric which the~soul inhab- 
ited during its earthly sojourn. It is probable, indeed, 
that the views entertained of the nature of this rela- 
tion are somewhat loose and vague in most minds, 
and that they rest in resolving it into the working of 
an Aimighty power ; yet that it will be somehow in 
the actual resurrection, in whole or in part, of the 
dead bodies consigned to the earth, that this event 
will te accomplished, is undoubtedly very generally 
held. 

To this view of the received doctrine of the res- 
urrection, we have ventured to suggest the objection 
drawn from the established fact, that our bodies in 
this world are undergoing a constant change, from 
the escape and replacement of the particles of which 
they are composed, and consequently that, as we 



RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 91 

have, in the course of our lives, several bodies, it 
does not convey a definite or intelligible idea to say 
that the body will be raised at the last day. It 
leaves us under the irresistible prompting to inquire, 
what body? It is a mode of expression very simi- 
lar to that which should allirm of some kind of a 
coat, which a man has worn for twenty years, that at 
the end of that time it should be renewed. In or- 
dinary circumstances a person in that period owns 
and wears out a great many coats. To say, therefore, 
that at the end of twenty years a man's coat shall 
be renewed, leaves the mind utterly at loss to know 
what particular coat is meant. The difficulty is the 
same in regard to the future renovation of the body. 
What body is intended ? The reply dictated by the 
more prevailing opinion probably is, that it is the 
last body in the series. This is not an unnatural 
impression, on the basis of the common theory, that 
the body to be raised is in some way directly related 
to the body which was laid in the dust. This is 
certainly the body which dies ; and if a new body 
were to be constructed out of the remains of the 
old one, it would strike us as most reasonable that 
it should be out of that which "we saw quietly ill- 
umed. " As the previous bodies have all evaporated 
and disappeared, the mind doubtless finds it difficult 
to trace the connexion between these transmitted, 
volatilised and vanished structures, and the future 
glorious corporeity. Hut let us suppose, for a mo- 
ment — and the supposition is perfectly legitimate — 
that this last body has just as much disappeared and 



92 RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 

become mingled with the universe as any of its 
Predecessors ; what is gained, we would ask, in the 
way of meeting the difficulty, by connecting the 
future raised body with the last of the series, any 
more than with any of the former ones ? In the 
space of some thousands of years they have all of 
them equally disappeared, and for aught that we 
can see, one of them has just as much relation to 
the future resurrection body as an other — and just 
as little. Indeed, we may ask, if it is possible for 
any man, in the exercise of his calm reflection, even 
by the utmost stretch of his faculties, to conceive 
the possibility that a risen saint should be able to 
recognize the splendid, sublimated, celestial fabric, in 
which he soars upwards to the eternal mansions, as 
specifically related to that worn, wasted, withered, 
decrepit, or possibly marred, mutilated, and deformed 
body from which his soul took its exit ? For our- 
selves, we are unable to discover any adequate 
grounds for this opinion, or to realise that the ob- 
jection we are urging, from the successive changes 
of the human body, is not a valid objection. We 
are certainly at liberty to demand what particular 
body is to be raised; if any one is specified, then 
we ask why that rather than any other ? If it be 
replied that the aggregate of the whole is to be 
raised, we naturally ask how those portions of the 
huge fabric are to be disposed of, which have equally 
belonged to other bodies ? 

Our grand objection, then, to the common theory 
of the resurrection, is founded upon the lack of a 



RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 93 

conceivable relation between the former and the 
latter bodies. This relation we do not hesitate to 
affirm to be beyond the grasp of the human intel- 
lect, and a resort to Omnipotence leaves the difficul- 
ty, in our view, just where it was before. While 
we would not dare to limit the Holy One of Israel, 
or deny that any thing is possible to him which is 
possible in itself, yet, as we apprehend the subject 
before us, the ideas involved in the proposition of 
the resurrection of the same body are incompatible 
per se. The real question is, how Omnipotence itself 
can establish the relation of which we are in quest — 
how, not as to the manner, but as to the fact. 

We are aware it is easily replied, it is no more dif- 
ficult to conceive of the future body being built up 
out of the dispersed particles of the old one, than it 
is to conceive of the creation of the body in the 
fir^t instance. But this reply loses sight of one 
important consideration, which destroys the paral- 
lelism of the two cases. In the original creation 
there is the production of something, by the simple 
fiat of Omnipotence, that has no relation to any 
thing going before. But in the case of the resur- 
rection there is the production of something out of a 
pre-existing substance, and consequently involving a 
relation of the former and latter fabric to each other, 
which is of such a nature as utterly to confound and 
overwhelm our faculties, even when Omnipotence 
is called in to solve the problem. We may illus- 
trate the difficulty that cleaves to the hypothesis by 
a fresh supposition. We can easily imagine that, 

5* 



94 RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNREASONABLE. 

beneath the surface of a field of battle, a human 
body, the body of a horse, and the wheel of a war- 
chariot may have been buried together. In process 
of time all these substances moulder away and be- 
come one indiscriminate mass of dust. The dust 
is there ; but still it is but dust, and no power of hu- 
man thought can conceive of one pari of the earthy 
material being essentially different from the rest. 
No one can imagine any superior adaptedness, in 
one part more than in any other, for the construction 
of a glorified body. It is certainly impossible to 
conceive that any attributes should pertain to one 
portion of the mass, which should enable the soul to 
recognize itself as more at home in a body formed 
of that, than in one formed of any other. 

Yet if the popular view of the subject be correct, 
we are required to believe that there is a discrimina- 
tion to be made between these particles, now become 
homogeneous, and that a latent virtue in some, which 
does not pertain to the others, is to appropriate them 
to the formation of a body " fashioned like unto 
Christ's glorious body." Can we conceive it ? If it 
be said, in reply, that the true question is, not 
whether we can conceive it, but whether inspiration 
has affirmed it, our rejoinder to this will be found in 
the sequel, where we consider the scriptural argu- 
ment. 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOCJJL 

There are some learned and worthy individuals, 
who deny the immortality of the soul, yet believe 
that all men are heirs of immortality. They con- 
tend that man will sink into a state of unconscious- 
ness at death, and remain so, till the general resur- 
rection, when the whole human family shall awake 
simultaneously, as it were, from a deep sleep, and go 
forth to enjoy a life immortal. But is this true ? Is 
there a space between death and the resurrection, 
in which the soul has no conscious existence ? To 
answer this, and to develope the doctrine of the 
future life, according to reason and revelation, is the 
object of this chapter. 

In going back among the records of the past, 
both sacred and profane, one of the first things 
to arrest attention is the doctrine itself, that the 
soul dies not, but continues beyond this life. From 
the earliest ages of the Hebrew commonwealth, an 
impression prevailed among that people, more or 
less definite, that the dead, after their departure to 
the unseen world, retain a conscious existence. 
Something of this may have been learned from 



96 IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

Egyptian psychology ; but it is probable that, even 
before the sojourn in Egypt, the family of Abraham, 
in common with the original inhabitants of Canaan, 
had some conviction of a continued existence after 
death. The researches and investigations of the 
learned, have served to show that such an impres- 
sion has prevailed over the world, from the remotest 
antiquity, and in the rudest and most uncultivated 
states of society. Egypt, with her sacred and sec- 
ular philosophers, is said to have the honor of first 
teaching the immortality of the soul. The mystic 
religion of her priesthood, which promised glory 
and immortality, was beautiful and attractive, as it 
broke upon the mind through the drapery of its 
solemn rites. But the question of the soul's immor- 
tality evidently belongs to a later age than that of 
its mere continued existence. While the former was 
unknown, and unrecognized in the Sacred Records, 
the latter was a common faith. No where does his- 
tory bring the account of any nation or people of 
antiquity, who have not had some conceptions of a 
life beyond the present. 

The question, then, becomes extremely interest- 
ing, both in itself and in its bearings on the point 
under discussion, — Whence was this impression 
derived? It has been maintained by some, that 
this, as well as other points of theological knowl- 
edge, was derived from early revelations made to 
the human race, and diffused by tradition through 
all nations. The different forms in which it has 
appeared in different ages and nations, are supposed 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 97 

to be corruptions of the original idea. But as there is 
no record of such revelations, and no evidence except 
conjecture, of their transmission among different 
nations, the theory may be dismissed without further 
remark. Others have assumed that the idea of a 
continued life was a pure invention of impostors, 
who designed thereby to exert an influence over the 
public mind. Of this, however, there is no proof. 
And such a theory, destitute of evidence to sustain it, 
is wholly insufficient to account for the conception and 
prevalence of the idea among nations remote from each 
other. Were there any priests or impostors among the 
original inhabitants of this continent, to invent and 
perpetuate the notions of the future life ? On most 
of the different islands which have been discovered 
in distant and remote oceans, the inhabitants have 
been found entertaining the same genera! notion of a 
continued existence beyond death. Has this sprung 
from imposture ? It is not surprising that impostors 
should have caught an already prevailing impression, 
invested it with their own sombre drapery, and then 
made use of it for sinister purposes. Nor is it sur- 
prising that fear and guilt should have incorporated 
many errors with such an impression. From these 
emotions of the diseased mind, together with the 
prevailing idea of a future life, has, doubtless, arisen 
the errors of endless rewards and punishments. But 
these are corruptions and abuses that spring from 
human depravity, and are utterly insufficient to ac- 
count for the existence and general prevalence of the 
original idea itself. Whence, then, has it originated ? 



98 IMMORTALITY OF THE SOtfL 

May it not be inferred that God himself has dimly 
impressed it upon the human mind? or that he has 
caused it to spring up naturally, in some faint glim- 
merings, from the peculiar mental and moral constitu- 
tion which he has given to man ? 

Most philosophers are ready to admit that there are 
certain intuitive principles of belief, called first 
truths, which spring up spontaneously in all minds. 
These are not susceptible of proof, because they 
stand behind and form the beginnings of all our 
processes of reasoning. " They admit of no other 
evidence than an appeal to the consciousness of every 
man, that he does, and must, believe them."* " It is 
impossible to doubt them, because to disbelieve them 
would be to deny what our very constitution was 
formed to admit. "f Among these fundamental truths, 
must be ranked "a conviction of our own existence 
as sentient and thinking beings ; and of mind, as 
something distinct from the functions of the body. 
From the first exercise of perception, we acquire a 
knowledge of two things ; namely, the thing perceiv- 
ed, and the sentient being who perceives it. In the 
same manner, from the exercise of any mental opera- 
tion, such as memory, we acquire an impression of 
the thing remembered, of an essence or principle 
which remembers it, and of this essence as something 
entirely distinct from any function of the body. "J: 
And this intuitive conviction is universal. No one 

* Abercrombie. 

t Brown. Lecture on Mental Phil., vol. 1, p. 127. 

X Abercrombie on Intellectual Powers, p. 157. 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 99 

can reflect upon his own body, without recognizing a 
principle within, distinct from it, which thinks, per- 
ceives, reasons, and examines into its organs and their 
various functions. 

With such an impression growing out of the very 
constitution of human nature, it was quite natural for 
people to suppose mind might exist in a state separate 
from the body. Doubtless, at a very early age of the 
world, they began to look upon the body as a mere 
tenement for the soul. And they would readily im- 
agine that the tenant might leave its dwelling-place 
without dissolution, and, perhaps, without inconveni- 
ence. (Is not this the origin of the psychological 
error of metempsychosis ?) The conception that 
soul exists, as an essence distinct from bodily organ- 
ization, must, almost of necessity, lead to the associ- 
ated idea of its continued existence when the body is 
dissolved. 

Nor can it be doubted that this conviction is the 
foundation of all our conceptions of a Supreme Being. 
We say very justly, that nature proves the existence 
of its Author. But what is the first step in the 
process of reasoning — the very corner stone on 
which the whole structure is based ? Is it not the 
consciousness which we have of mind, or soul, in our- 
selves ? Before all reasoning, there must be some 
conception of a mental or spiritual being. Unless 
we fall into actual anthropomorphism, we must derive 
our primary idea of a Deity from the conception 
which we have of mind, or spirit, in ourselves. 
Having once formed the idea of mind, as an essence 



100 IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

distinct from matter, it is easy to apply that idea to 
beings out of ourselves, and then to enlarge and per- 
fect it, until w6 conceive of a God with infinite and 
absolute perfections.* And this was unquestionably 
the mode in which men first began to form a concep- 
tion of superior beings. In the rude, ages of the 
world, they saw all things in motion, and, unable 
otherwise to account for the cause of such motion, 
they ascribed it to mind existing in the objects. 
They were conscious of mind as the cause of their 
own movements, and naturally supposed that a similar 
principle resided in all moving objects as the cause of 
their motion.f Thus they drew from nature the evi- 
dence of a great Divine Mind. But, through igno- 
rance, they were unable to confine themselves to one 
being as supreme. The original idea of mind or 
spirit in themselves, was perverted, and made the 
foundation not only of polytheism and idolatry, but 
of all the psychological vagaries that have prevailed 
in the world. Inanimate objects have been endowed 
with soul or intelligence, and then worshiped as divine. 
And the idea of human souls, as existing distinct 
from body, and continuing beyond death, has been 
encumbered with innumerable errors, which have 
lessened its value, and sometimes rendered it suspect- 
ed. It is not wonderful that truth corrupted should 
be lost sight of; it then becomes error. Nor is it 
wonderful that the fanciful theories, which have been 

* Tholuck on the Origin of Heathenism, Bib. Repos., vol. 2, 
p. 86. 

t See Bergier. Die. de ThoL, Art, Idolatry. 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 101 

advanced concerning the soul, should have led some 
to doubt its existence beyond death. The whims 
and speculations of false philosophy, on the one hand, 
have naturally driven some minds into doubt and dis- 
belief on the other. But between these extremes 
there is a middle ground — an important trust which 
God has fitted men to receive. " By nature," says 
Cicero, " we are led to the belief that the gods exist; 
but what they are, we learn by an exercise of reason ; 
so by the consent of all nations, we believe that souls 
continue beyond this life; but what they are, and 
in what condition they will remain, must be learned by 
reason. " # Is not this latter conviction the result of 
man's natural constitution, as well as the former ? The 
consent of all nations is but an evidence that God 
has placed this conviction on the same ground as that 
of his own existence. It may not have the same 
strength and permanence, but it proceeds from the 
same general principles. 

Such, then, is the origin of the notion, so exten- 
sively prevailing, of some sort of existence beyond 
the present. But without the light of Revelation, it 
could not be expected to escape corruptions. Indeed, 
it was the very thing to open an avenue for human 
credulity, fear, guilt, and curiosity, to bring in their 
fanciful theories. The idea itself, disconnected with 
all errors, is very simple, embracing merely the con- 
viction of a spirit in man that continues beyond death, 
without any definite notion as to its nature and con- 

* Tusc. Q,, lib. de Contemnenda Morte. 



102 IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

dition. All beyond this conviction was conjecture ; 
even immortality was enigmatical. But conjecture 
was rife with its theories respecting souls, and their 
future condition — respecting angels and spirits, both 
good and evil, and their influence over men — and 
respecting the intercourse of souls in the body with 
spirits departed. Hence arose the magic arts of 
antiquity — hence the belief in divination and necro- 
mancy, and the reverence for magicians, enchanters, 
witches, consulters of familiar spirits, and other classes, 
who, it was thought, could evoke and hold communion 
with the shadowy forms of unearthly beings.* The 
references, in the books of Moses, to these prevailing 
impressions, and the decided condemnation of magic, 
witchcraft, necromancy, and every form of divination, 
show plainly enough, that the Jews, at the very com- 
mencement of their commonwealth, had imbibed the 
same errors. It cannot be denied that they had some 
conceptions of disembodied beings — some faith in 
spirits in another world. They surely believed in 
angels and other spiritual existences. In close con- 
nection with the soul's continuance in a conscious 
state, they had formed the notion, in common with 
the neighboring nations, of a sort of subterranean 
world, the residence of departed spirits. Few will 
dispute that such a notion was entertained by the 
early Hebrews. Sheol was regarded a sort of shadowy 
world, where the manes of the departed formed a vast 
congregation in conscious existence. This opinion 

# Jafcm, Archaeology, § 314 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 103 

distinctly assumed the doctrine of a continuance of 
souls, or of being, beyond this life. 

Was this doctrine recognized in the Jewish Scrip- 
tures, especially in the five books of Moses ? There 
are certainly indications in the writings of the Jewish 
lawgiver, not only that the doctrine prevailed among 
the people, but that it was recognized as a divine 
truth. Are there not some principles of revelation 
assumed in the Sacred Records, or taken for granted as 
true, without being directly and didactically asserted? 
It is, for instance, nowhere said by way of original 
revelation, in the writings of Moses, that " there is a 
God,' 5 but that affirmation is everywhere assumed as 
a well established and generally* admitted truth. " In 
the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. " 
(Gen. 1:1.) Here, as elsewhere, there is a direct 
affirmation that God performed something ; but no 
attempt to prove, or even to reveal that he exists. 
When he appeared to Moses in the burning bush, the 
historian constantly assumes, without asserting, the 
fact of his being. On this occasion he declared him- 
self the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob ; but Moses 
merely asked his name, without demanding any asser- 
tion of his existence or supremacy. Moses, however, 
was very particular in correcting the errors which the 
Jews might have gathered from Egypt and elsewhere, 
concerning the nature and character of God. Es- 
pecially does he direct his institutions against idolatry. 
Monotheism, in contradistinction from the prevailing 
forms of polytheism, is very often asserted by the 
Jewish lawgiver. " Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God 



104 IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

is one Lord" — not many. (Deut. 6 : 4.) "I" — 
and no one else of all the tutelary deities of the age 
and country — " I am the Lord thy God, that brought 
thee out of Egypt." (Exodus 20 : 1.) " Thou shalt 
have no other gods before me." Thus was Moses 
very cautious in correcting the great and prominent 
errors of the people ; but, if I mistake not, he nowhere 
affirms, or denies, that the one God exists. Still, the 
mode in which he refers to this Being is a sufficient 
recognition of his existence ; and that recognition, 
therefore, becomes a truth of revelation. 

Is not the existence of angels, or an order of beings 
superior to the human race, recognized in the same 
way ? Every one knows that mention is very often 
made, in the Holy Scriptures, of "angels," "his angel," 
"the angel of the Lord," and "the angel of God." 
And no one can doubt that, in some instances, these 
phrases denote some sort of personal beings or agents, 
superior to men, and of a spiritual nature. The pre- 
vailing belief of the early Hebrews is clearly indicated 
in the record of Jacob's dream, (Gen. 28: 12.) It 
has indeed been maintained by some that the phrase, 
"angel of the Lord," refers to Christ, as the second 
person in the Trinity . # Others, however, have af- 
firmed that it denotes a peculiar manifestation of the 
divine presence (especially in Genesis 16 : 7, et seq.) 
to the various persons mentioned-! But this, with 
other similar phrases, is evidently applied more fre- 
quently to a superior order of beings, of whom the 

* Hengstenberg's Christology. See Bib. Repos., vol. 3, p. 653. 
t Stuart's Heb, Chrestomathy, p. 167. 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 105 

apostle says, " They are all ministering spirits, sent 
forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salva- 
tion." * Yet it is nowhere directly asserted that such 
an order of beings exist. Their existence is assumed 
as a well known fact. The prevailing opinion is 
recognized ; and as there is no condemnation of it. in 
any part of the Sacred Record, it becomes a truth of 
revelation. If it were condemned in any part of the 
Divine Word, although mentioned in other parts in a 
way to imply its reality, it could not be regarded as a 
revealed truth. 

It is on this ground that the doctrine of evil angels 
is exploded, as an erroneous theory. If I mistake 
not, the book of Job was designed as a direct con- 
demnation of an opinion prevailing among the people, 
concerning the agency of evil angels in the affairs of 
man. At any rate, the apostle Paul declares, (1 Tim, 
4:1) that " in the last times some shall depart from 
the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines" 
of devils" — "or, rather, giving heed to erroneous 
spirits and doctrines concerning demons. "f In men- 
tioning this declension, he evidently condemns the 
doctrine concerning demons, which had prevailed in 
the world. The true principles of revelation do not 
embrace that doctrine. In this condemnation is 
embraced the whole system of Jewish demonology. 
Their opinions concerning Diabolos, Samael, and 
Satan, as well as Daimonia, are alike condemned. 



* Bush, Notes on Genesis, 16. 7. 

f Newton on the Prophecies, vol. 2, p. 82. 



106 IMiMORTALlTY OF THE SOUL. 

And hence, though the sacred writers often mention 
these in adaptation to common opinions and prejudices, 
it is not to be supposed that they are recognized as 
beings really existing in a sort of spiritual state. But 
while all such errors are clearly condemned, the ex- 
istence of an order of superhuman beings — holy 
angels — is taken for granted, as true, with no sub- 
sequent condemnation. 

Do not these remarks apply, with equal force, to 
the scriptural recognition of the soul as a distinct 
entity, and its continued existence after leaving the 
body ? No one can dispute that this was an article 
of common belief among the Jews, from the com- 
mencement of their theocracy. Testimony the most 
conclusive, on this point, is to be found in the nu- 
merous scriptural references to witchcraft and necro- 
mancy, and in the severe laws enacted against them. 
Such laws would not have been enacted against 
necromancy, if that superstitious practice had not 
prevailed to an alarming extent among the people. 
Yet necromancy presupposes a belief that the spirits, 
or souls of the dead, continue in a conscious state of 
existence. The interview of Saul, with the witch of 
Endor, does not prove that Samuel's spirit still existed 
in a conscious state ; but it does prove the prevalence 
of a common faith to that effect.* 

# Bishop Warburton (Divine Legation, book v., §5) contends 
that the doctrine of a future state was not taught in the writings 
and institutions of Moses, and that it seems not to have had 
any share in the people's thoughts; and yet he admits, (hook vx.) 
that the patriarchs had some faith in it, which they derived from 
God's promises, contained in the Mosaic writings. Some of 
his assertions are singular and extravagant. No one can read 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. J 07 

Was this common faith anywhere condemned by 
the commissioned lawgiver of the Jews ? It is cor- 
rected ; but is it condemned in any part of the Sacred 
Writings? It will be difficult to find a passage con- 
demning the naked principle, which forms so important 
a feature of the revelations of Christianity. It will 
be seen, hereafter, that Christ and his apostles taught 
the doctrine of a continued existence of the spirit 
beyond this life. And it cannot be supposed that any 
revelation made to mankind has condemned, as false- 
hood, a principle which Christianity recognizes as a 
fundamental truth. But though neither Moses, nor 
any other sacred writer, has condemned the belief 
that souls exist beyond this life, yet he has enacted 
severe laws against the various abuses of it. It was 
a striking feature of the legal dispensation to correct 
the errors of the people, and prepare them for the 
reception of truth. Moses was well aware of the 
errors which they had acquired in Egypt, and to which 
they would be exposed by their contiguity with the 
Canaanites and other nations. Consequently he en- 
acted the following ordinance, (Deut. J8: 9 — 12;) 
i% When thou art come into the land which the Lord 
thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after 
the abominations of those nations : there shall not be 
found among you any one that maketh his son or his 
daughter to pass through the fire, or thatuseth divina- 



the accounts of Jewish necromancy, without admitting that the 
people thought of a future life. Moses did not, indeed, directly 
assert the doctrine ; hut he lias used language which surely 
implies some sort of life beyond the present state of being, 



108 IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

tion, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a 
witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, 
or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these 
things are an abomination unto the Lord." This 
divine ordinance assumes the prevalence, among the 
Canaanites, of the superstitious practices therein con- 
demned. These are called "an abomination unto the 
Lord." The Israelites were forbidden to "do after 
the abominations of those nations," and were assured 
that, in consequence of the practice of them, the 
Lord would expel the original inhabitants from Ca- 
naan, and give that land as an inheritance to his chosen 
people. But many of these abominations sprang from 
abuses of the conviction that souls exist after their 
bodies are dissolved, and could not have been prac- 
tised without such conviction. While, however, the 
abominations and malpractices were prohibited, the 
conviction itself was passed over in virtual approval, 
or at least without condemnation. By this course, the 
sacred writer, without distinctly affirming the doctrine 
that souls exist longer than the body, did at least give 
it some countenance and support. 

It is not. however, a mere negative acknowledg- 
ment, which it receives in the Pentateuch, and other 
books of the Old Testament. It is more directly and 
positively recognized in them. It is true that Moses 
does not speak in direct and decisive language con- 
cerning the future state — the existence of human 
spirits beyond their earthly abode. The references 
which he makes to this subject are only brief hints, 
intelligible, perhaps, to those alone to whom a knowl- 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 109 

edge of it would be essentially beneficial.* He did 
not inculcate the immortality of the soul, except so 
far as immortality might be inferred from its continued 
existence after leaving the body. But, as will be seen 
in the sequel, he does very plainly assume that mind, 
or spirit, does not die, when its connection with the 
physical frame is dissolved. Several considerations 
from " Moses and the prophets" may be brought to 
show that there is something in man, soul or spirit, 
which lives beyond the dissolution of the body. 

1. The idea is inculcated in all those passages 
which speak of the dead as " going to their fathers," 
as " sleeping with their fathers," &c. The ancient 
Hebrews regarded life as a journey, or a pilgrimage, 
which terminated at death ; when the sojourner en- 
tered into the company of his ancestors.f Hence it 
is said of Ishmael, that having lived an hundred and 
thirty-seven years, "he gave up the ghost, and died, 
and was gathered to his fathers." (Gen. 25 : 17. ) 
Abraham, also, "gave up the ghost and died in a good 
old age, an old man and full of years, and was gath- 
ered to his people." (Gen. 25 : 8.) Of a similar 
import is the language used in reference to Isaac's 
death: "He gave up the ghost, and died, and was 
gathered to his people, being old and full of days. 
And Esau and Jacob buried him." (Gen. 35: 29.) 
Concerning Rachel, the language is peculiar : "And 
it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for 

* Hengstenberg's Christ., vol. I, p. 35. Warburton, Divine 
Legation, book vi., § 5. 

f Jahn, Bib. Archaeology, §203. 

6 



110 IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

she died 5 ) that she called his name Benoni." (Gen. 
35 : 18.) In all these passages, there is an evident 
intention to convey the idea that some sort of essence, 
or being, existing in the body, was departing from it ; 
and yet that it lived, after its departure, to be gathered 
to the assembly of those who had gone before it. This 
being is not the body, and not the breath of life. It 
is that which constitutes personal identity — that to 
which the pronouns, J, thou, me, he, self, and others, 
are appropriately applied. It may, indeed, be said 
that the expressions, in passages above mentioned, are 
poetic figures, designed to convey the idea of natural 
death, without intimating anything beyond. This ex- 
planation would be satisfactory, if there had been no 
previous conviction of the continued existence of the 
soul after leaving the body. But with such a belief, 
which the patriarchs unquestionably entertained, in 
common with the Jews generally, the language could 
not be used without conveying the idea of spirit, or 
something else, departing from its temple, and still 
existing in a conscious state after death. Indeed, the 
imagery w T as evidently borrowed from the current 
belief of the age - — a belief, which Moses, so far from 
condemning, has, in its essential features, virtually 
approved. 

It is not to be supposed that being "gathered to 
their fathers," denotes a particular ancestral burial- 
place. When the promise was made to Abraham, 
"Thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace ; thou shalt be 
buried in a good old age," (Gen. 15 : 15,) it was not 
certainly intended that his body should be laid by the 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. Ill 

graves of his ancestors ; for he was buried in a cave 
near the plain of Mamre, at the south of Hebron. 
But his fathers lived, and died, and were buried, in 
the extensive country of the Chaldeans, beyond the 
Euphrates. The meaning of the promise, then, is 
that he should be gathered to the vast congregation of 
his departed ancestors, who were conceived of as yet 
alive and conscious of their condition. "When per- 
sons are said to go to their fathers, and go down to 
their children who were dead, nothing more seems to 
be meant than that they had gone to Sheol or Hades, 
where all the dead are represented as one vast congre- 
gation."* With these prevailing opinions, the Jews 
must, of necessity, conceive of that congregation as 
living in their unearthly state. The phraseology used 
with reference to it, was directly calculated to confirm 
the conviction of a conscious existence of human 
spirits beyond this life. 

The figure of a sleep, made use of to denote death, 
would naturally add further confirmation of the pre- 
vailing belief. "The Lord said unto Moses, Behold, 
thou shalt sleep with thy fathers." (Deut. 31 : 16.) 
And the death of several kings of Israel is recorded 
in the simple but pathetic language, "He slept with 
his fathers."! Sometimes the expression is varied by 
adding, "And they buried him in the city of David," 
or, " He was buried with his fathers, in the city of 
David." This, it will be admitted, is a beautiful 

* Balfour's Essays, p. 15. 

t See 1 Kings, 2: 10; 11:21,43; 14:20,31; 15:8,24; 
2 Kings, 8:24; 13:9; 15:7; 2 Chron. 27:9; 32:33; 28: 
27; 33: 20. 



112 IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

figure to express a naturally repulsive and gloomy fact. 
It conveys the idea of rest and peacefulness, and at 
the same time indicates a continued existence. The 
being who sleeps is not wholly dead, but reposing in 
slumber, from which he shall again awake. The lan- 
guage, then, was calculated to strengthen the convic- 
tion that mind, or person, or the being who thinks, 
was not annihilated at death ; that, though he slept 
or rested in the land of darkness and forgetfulness ; 
though he was gathered to the assembly of the dwell- 
ers in Sheol ; yet he was still capable of thought and 
perception, of sympathy and affection. There was a 
degree of tenderness associated with this conviction, 
that rendered it the more pleasant and permanent. 
And perhaps it was strengthened by the impossibility 
of conceiving of beings annihilated. No man can 
conceive of himself as non-existent. When he makes 
the attempt, he invariably conceives of a being exist- 
ing ; and he vainly endeavors to associate, with this 
conception, the idea of absolute nothingness, and to 
include himself, or any other being, in that idea. He 
remembers his friends who have died ; but the remem- 
brance always includes the idea of living beings, 
either active or at rest. He conceives of them as they 
were when alive; and he cannot bring his thoughts 
down to the present, and conceive of them as gone, 
without carrying along with that conception the idea 
of their existence. The memories of the past neces- 
sarily embrace and convey to the present the living 
images of beings then existing and acting. It is this 
circumstance, perhaps, more than any thing else, 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 1 13 

which has strengthened the conviction that the dead 
are not annihilated ; but, though taken from us, that 
they still exist, in some mysterious region beyond the 
grave. 

2. The Jewish views of Sheol, and the scriptural 
references to that subject, afford further evidence of 
an intention of the sacred writers to recognize the 
existence of the spirit after leaving the body. It 
cannot be questioned that Sheol, in the Old Testa- 
ment, primarily denotes a dim region beneath the face 
of the earth — a world for the dead in general, without 
reference to their moral qualities, their happiness or 
misery. The uniform testimony of ancient and mod- 
ern savans has fully established this as the meaning 
of the word.* It is derived from a root, (shoal,) 
which has "the import of craving, requiring, insatiable 
longing, from its being one of the four things which, 
Solomon says, are never satisfied."! It is translated 
grave, pit, and hell ; but there is as wide a departure 
from the truth on the one hand, in assuming that it 
denotes merely the resting-place of the body, "exclu- 
sively the grave or place of burial, "J as there is, on 
the other, in maintaining that it denotes a state of 
punishment beyond this life. It was doubtless design- 
ed to express the rendezvous of the dead — a sort of 
underworld, where the spirits, or attenuated forms and 
shadowy images of the departed, were congregated in 

# See Stuart's Essays, p. 98 ; Campbell's Four Gospels, vol. 
1, p. 180 ; Balfour, First Inquiry, chap. 1. 

+ Bush, Notes on Genesis, 37 : 35. 

\ Universalist Quarterly, vol. 1, p. 367, 



114 IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

a state of conscious existence.* What we are able 
to learn of Jewish opinions shows conclusively that 
this people believed in the existence of spirits after 
death. In barbarous ages, they would naturally con- 
ceive of some locality for the residence of departed 
souls. And when this idea was once established, they 
would as naturally find a word to express it. Such a 
word they have in the Hebrew tongue — the word 
Sheol. " The popular notion was, that Sheol was a 
deep region in the earth where the ghosts of the dead 
all resided."! The belief of the ancient Hebrews 
was, that the spirits of the dead were received into 
Sheol, which is represented as a large subterranean 
abode."J But they could have no sort of belief or 
notion of the residence of such unearthly images, 
without conceiving of them as existing, and conscious 
of their existence in that region. 

With such a word in common use, and such a 
meaning conveyed by it, who can believe it possible 
for the sacred writers to employ it without recalling 
to the minds of the people their old convictions — 
without suggesting the idea of human souls, or spirits, 
existing in Sheol? In what way do they employ the 
word, and how do they appear to have been understood? 

The first place where Sheol is used in the Bible, if 
I am not mistaken, is Genesis 37 : 35, where Jacob, 
mourning for Joseph, refused to be comforted and 
said, "For I will go down into the grave (Sheol j unto 

# Mr. Balfour denies that the dead were conscious in Sheol; 
but it is certain that the people conceived of them as existing 
and conscious, and used the word to express that idea. 

t Balfour, First Inquiry, p. 56. J Jahn, Bib. Archaeology, § 314. 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 115 

my son mourning." It was but a little while before, 
(Gen. 35 : 20,) that the historian, recording the death 
and burial of Rachel, made use of another word 
(keber) to denote her grave, or burial-place. It was 
evidently something different that he wished to express 
by the word Sheol. The aged mourner believed that 
his son rested in that mysterious and dimly disclosed 
existence ; and, however sad the reflection, yet, in his 
sorrow, he desired to go down and join him there. 
Can it be supposed that he regarded him as utterly 
unconscious of any existence? His very wish to go 
down unto him, indicates his conviction that Sheol 
contained the living spirit, or effigiem, of his departed 
son. There are a few other passages where Sheol is 
used with reference to the death of Jacob, and doubt- 
less with its common signification.* Do they not con- 
tain a recognition of something in man that continues 
to exist after death ? The holy Scriptures do not 
sanction any errors respecting Sheol and its inhabi- 
tants, connected with this conviction. All errors are 
corrected, and the truth alone, respecting the soul's 
continuance, is sanctioned by the later revelations of 
Christianity. 

It is not necessary to examine all the passages where 
Sheol occurs in the Old Testament. The word is 
often used figuratively, sometimes to denote the sep- 
ulchre, but oftener, perhaps, to signify some peculiar 
state of the people in this world. Still its prevailing 
usage clearly indicates an invisible world for the shades 
or spirits of the dead. Thus in 1 Sam. 2 : 6, "The 

* Gen. 44 : 29, 31 ; 42 : 38. 



116 IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

Lord killeth and maketh alive ; he bringeth down to 
the grave, (Sheol,) and he bringeth up." The very 
language here employed assumes the continued exis- 
tence of the thing brought down to Sheol, and brought 
up again, So when Job says, "O that thou wouldst 
hide me in the grave/ 5 (Sheol,) considering the prev- 
alent meaning of the word, he could not have used it 
without referring to an invisible region where he hoped 
to be at rest, yet conscious of his quiet. 

But this idea is confirmed by another class of texts, 
which contain the Hebrew word rephaim in connec- 
tion with Sheol. According to Gesenius, this word 
in the singular, (rapha,) signifies "beings relaxed, 
feeble, languid;" and in the plural, (rephaim,) 
denotes "the weak" and designates "the manes or 
shades dwelling in Hades, whom the Hebrews sup- 
posed to be destitute of blood and animal life, and, 
therefore, weak and languid, like a sick person ; but 
not wholly without some faculties of the mind." 
Poetical imagery has given life and animation to the 
dwellers in Sheol, and invested them with the cos- 
tumes of the living. Poetry, however, is but an echo 
of prevailing tastes and opinions. These, then, are 
the creative power which, out of a fundamental truth, 
have constructed the attenuated forms or manes of the 
departed. And does not inspiration, by its very ref- 
erence to the poetic creations, sanction the fundamen- 
tal truth ? Amid the drapery of rephaim and Sheol, 
with which the sacred writers have invested their 
thoughts, do they not recognize the continued exis- 
tence of the soul beyond this life, out of which the 



. 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 117 

poetic fictions have sprung ? There is seldom a fic- 
tion that has not some reality for its foundation. The 
fictions concerning Sheol and its inhabitants must 
have had their groundwork in a primary truth, which 
truth is confirmed by the very prevalence of the fictions. 
Among the texts referred to is the passage in Job 
26: 5, 6 — 

" Before him the shades beneath tremble, 
The waters and their inhabitants ; 
The underworld is naked before thee ; 
Destruction is without a covering." # 

Whether the representation here were fiction or 
reality, it must necessarily confirm a superstitious peo- 
ple in their convictions relative to Sheol and the 
"shades," (rephaim,) and it seems designed to sanc- 
tion the great truth that lay at the bottom of them. 
A further recognition of the same truth is found in the 
language of the Psalmist, (Ps. 88: 10, 11,) when the 
questions are asked implying the strongest negations, 
"Wilt thou show ponders to the dead (metim?) 
Shall the dead (rephaim) arise and praise thee ? 
Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave, 
(keberl)" Here the dead mentioned in the first in- 
terrogation are very different from the rephaim in the 
second. In the third, keber is used, denoting grave 
in a sense different from Sheol. While, then, the 
dead (metim) in the first question denotes dead bodies, 
rephaim in the second must have been designed to 
express the souls or 'manes of the departed, the sup- 
posed living residents of Sheol. There is another 

* See Noyes' Translation of Job. 

6* 



118 IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

passage to the same effect, in the prophecy of Isaiah, 
(14 : 9.) " Hell from beneath is moved for thee to 
meet thee at thy coming. It stirreth up the dead 
(rephaim) for thee, even all the chief ones of the 
earth. It hath raised from their thrones all the kings 
of the nations." The prophet, in this connection, 
was predicting the fall of the Babylonian empire, and 
the deliverance of the Jews from their long captivity. 
The king of Babylon, addressed as "Lucifer, son of 
the morning," was to experience a terrible humiliation 
and death. So great was the victim to be received 
into Sheol, among its spectral inhabitants, that Sheol 
itself was moved at his coming, and the dead, rephaim, 
ghosts, or umbrce of earth's mighty departed, were 
disquieted at his presence.* But however figurative 
this passage may be, and whatever errors its literal 
interpretation may involve, it certainly adds another 
to the numerous scriptural evidences that Sheol was 
regarded as the receptacle of the spirits of departed 
men, which were alive and conscious in their unearthly 
abode. The errors connected with this opinion are 
corrected by the clearer light of the Christian revela- 
tion ; but this correction does not presuppose that the 
opinion itself is wholly false in all its parts. The con- 
tinued existence of the soul, so clearly recognized in 
this passage, is fully affirmed by Christ and his apos- 
tles as a truth from God. 

There are some other passages belonging to the 
same class, which it is not necessary to quote at length. 
They set forth not only a world for the dead, but the 

# See Lowth's Translation of Isaiah, p. 216. 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 1 19 

t 

dead also as having life, consciousness, and shadowy 
forms in that world. And however erroneous may be 
the representations, there is evidently an important 
truth lying at the bottom of them, which forms a part 
of revelation, namely, the conscious existence of mind, 
or soul, in some condition beyond this life. 

3. Another evidence of the same truth, in the Old 
Testament, is derived from the use of the words which 
are rendered life, breath, soul, and spirit; namely, 
nephish, ruah, and others. All these, in their primary 
meaning, seem to have some reference to air or breath ; 
and were, probably, first applied to animated beings, 
in consequence of the movement of air that was 
observed during the act of respiration. But they were 
subsequently employed with almost every variety of 
analogous signification, denoting life, breath, wind, 
passions, emotions, persons, self, mind and spirit.* 
No one can doubt that they are sometimes used to 
denote the mind, its faculties and affections, as distin- 
guished from the body. But their more common sig- 
nification is animal life, the vital principle or sensitive 
soul, common alike to man and beast. 

It has already been shown that the Jews, in early 
times, had some conception of a rational spirit distinct 
from the human body. As this conception ripened 
into a conviction, and prevailed extensively among 
the people, it was very natural for them to find some 
word to express it. But the subject, in its more recon- 
dite relations, was not to be comprehended without 
difficulty. It is not surprising, therefore, that man- 

* See The Soul, or Scriptural Psychology, by Prof. Bush, 



120 IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

kind, in the rudest ages, should have had but an im- 
perfect idea of the nature and properties of the soul. 
Their knowledge of it was derived from a few of its 
most striking outward manifestations. And so inti- 
mately was it associated with the vital principle, that 
it might have been regarded as the cause of life. The 
people saw and felt that, when the living subject 
breathed, the mind and its affections retained their 
ascendancy. But when the breath departed, when 
the "ghost was given up," all these ceased their 
action, or at least were no longer manifested in the 
lifeless subject. The difficulty of forming an accurate 
idea of an invisible spirit, and the necessary relation- 
ship of breath to the living and rational man, would 
very naturally induce the supposition that mind, with 
its wonderful powers and affections, resided in the 
breath, and, perhaps, was identical with it. Hence, 
doubtless, originated the use of words denoting breath, 
in the language of the Hebrews, to signify soul, mind, 
or the inner spirit, which constitutes the true man. 
That people had not then learned all the metaphysical 
distinctions of a later age, between the vegetative 
soul, and the sensitive soul, and the rational soul. 
Consequently they might have believed, like the 
Egyptians, that rational souls were common both to 
men and beasts, and were capable of transmigration 
from one to the other. This doctrine, however, is 
nowhere mentioned in the Scriptures, and, of conse- 
quence, nowhere sanctioned by divine revelation. 
But the people unquestionably did conceive of the 
vital and the rational spirit, as either identical, or, at 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 121 

least, so nearly analogous, as to be expressed by the 
same word. And, consequently, the Hebrew words, 
usually translated soul and spirit, are often applied 
both to the vital principle, and to the mind with pow- 
ers and affections. Instances are very numerous, but 
they need not be quoted at length. It will be proper, 
however, to adduce a few passages in which the words 
appear to have a higher signification than mere ani- 
mal life. In Genesis 23: 8, the word nephesh is used, 
where Abraham said to the children of Heth, "If it 
be your mind that I should bury my dead, hear me ;" 
that is, if you will give your consent ; yet the grant- 
ing of this would necessarily require the exercise of 
a rational principle. "If thou shalt seek the Lord thy 
God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy 
heart and all thy soul." (Deut. 4: 29.) "Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart and 
all thy soul." (Deut. 6 : 5.) " Know thou the God 
of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and 
a willing mind" or soul. (1 Chron. 28: 9.) In 
these instances the word nephesh certainly denotes 
something more than animal vitality. It refers to the 
affections, purposes, and actions of the mind ; and of 
consequence, the use of it recognizes the existence of 
a rational principle in man, which governs the actions 
of the body. 

In like manner, when this word has the significa- 
tion of self and person, it contains a necessary refer- 
ence to the mind as constituting the being designated 
by those words. "O my soul, come not thou into their 
secret," (Gen. 49: 6.) This is but a sample of 



122 IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

many similar passages with which the Scriptures 
abound, but which need not be quoted at length. 
The phrases, my soul, thy soul, his soul, their souls, 
and kindred expressions, refer to the inner man, to 
that wonderful principle which constitutes personal 
identity ; for identity cannot be predicated of body, 
because body is constantly changing. Neither can it 
be predicated of thought, if there is no thinking prin- 
ciple distinct from physical organization. It is mind, 
the enduring, thinking substance or essence — mind, 
the conscious self, or soul, which constitutes the 
changeless monad — the single identical being that is 
felt to be the same through all the fluctuations of its 
existence. The Hebrews believed in some such prin- 
ciple in man. And as they thought it to be some way 
connected with life and breath, would they not very 
naturally make use of a word to express it, which, at 
the same time, might express what they would regard 
as correlative ideas ? They unquestionably did so, in 
the use of the word nephesh. 

But this is not the only word employed in a similar 
way. Ruah, usually translated spirit, has the primary 
signification of breath, but passes from that, by an 
easy transition, to denote both the vital principle and 
the rational soul. No one, probably, will question the 
truth of this remark. The following passages are a 
sample. " Thy visitation hath preserved my spirit." 
(Job. 10: 12.) " And it came to pass in the morn- 
ing that his spirit was troubled." (Gen. 41 : 8.) 
i: But there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of 
the Almighty giveth him understanding." (Job. 32: 8.) 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 123 

These are but a sketch of what might be quoted, 
but they show that the word was used to denote 
something different from breath, and more than ani- 
mal life. In the last passage, the spirit evidently 
means the principle or substance which thinks, and 
is capable of receiving the understanding which the 
Almighty gives. In many passages, the word de- 
notes the passions, emotions, dispositions, and tem- 
per of the mind. In this case it distinctly recognizes 
the existence of a spiritual essence, the seat and sub- 
ject of these passions and emotions. Of this class 
are the following : "In whose spirit there is no guile," 
(Ps. 32 : 2.) "The Lord saveth such as be of a con- 
trite spirit." (Ps. 34 : 18.) "Renew a right spirit 
within me." (Ps. 51 : 10.) Further quotations are 
unnecessary. The reader is referred to a work on 
"The Soul" lately published by Professor Bush. 

It may be deemed indisputable, then, that the 
Hebrews did employ the words above mentioned, to 
convey the idea of a spirit existing in man distinct 
from the body. No matter how incorrect were their 
views. It is certain that their psychology embraced 
a rational soul, capable of thought and feeling, and 
having power to exist separate from the flesh. Would 
it not, then, be natural for a people, with such im- 
pressions, when speaking of death, to refer to this 
principle as departing from its tenement ? That 
they did conceive of it in this way, and refer to it 
in this way, is evident from the Sacred Records. 
The following passages, among others, confirm this 
remark : " His breath (spirit) goeth forth, he re- 



124 IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

turneth to the earth ; in that very day his thoughts 
(counsels) perish." (Ps. 146 : 4.) "Into thy hands 
I commit my spirit" (Ps. 31 : 5.) "No man hath 
power over the spirit to retain the spirit, neither 
hath he power in the day of death." (Eccl. 8:8.) 
These passages evidently refer to something which 
goes forth at death, and which no man can retain. 
It may be the vita] breath ; but when it had gone, 
and the man lay lifeless and senseless as the ground 
from which he came, a rude people would naturally 
regard it as a departure of the rational spirit. And 
the use of such language, by the prophets, would 
be calculated to confirm such an impression. 

4. The errors which had been involved in this 
ancient idea, and the obscurity which rested on the 
subject, were removed by the clear light of Christi- 
anity. No one will doubt that Christ and his apos- 
tles revealed a resurrection of the dead. There 
might have been a few instances of the revivification 
of deceased persons, before the era of the Christian 
dispensation, and a protraction, in this world, of the 
life thus restored. But there had been no disclosure 
of a resurrection like that revealed by the Son of 
God. All that was known of man's condition beyond 
this life was embraced in that small portion of truth, 
which, out of the current opinions concerning the 
soul and its residence in Sheol, had been sanctioned 
by the sacred writers. To the records of the Chris- 
tian dispensation, therefore, application must be 
made for a full development of the doctrine of the 
resurrection of the dead. 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 125 

But in disclosing the fact and the nature of the 
resurrection, do the writers of these records neces- 
sarily disaffirm and invalidate all prior convictions 
concerning the future ? They certainly make no 
direct denial of the soul's continued life after leaving 
its earthly tenement. On the other hand, is not 
this idea virtually, if not directly and positively, re- 
affirmed ? Does not the very announcement, that 
, "there shall be a resurrection, 55 presuppose a contin- 
uance of the spirits life after the dissolution of the 
body ? At any rate, that which is to be raised, as 
will be seen hereafter, whatever it may be, does not 
entirely cease its existence. Is this the body ? No ; 
it is not, as we have seen in the previous chapter. 

What, then, is to be raised from the dead ? It is 
mind, or spirit — that enduring essence in which 
the proper identity of the person exists. If this be 
the case, then the mind or spirit is not extinguished — 
not lost or annihilated at death. Though it must 
undergo that change, in its relation to outward 
things, which is called death, yet it does not, thereby, 
cease to exist. If there should be an entire cessa- 
tion of its existence — an utter extinction of the 
whole man or person, body, soul, spirit, identity — 
there could be no resurrection. God may be able, 
indeed, to create new beings; but not to raise up 
old ones, unless there be something belonging to the 
old ones yet undissolved and existing, to be raised 
to a higher state. If, then, the person shall be the 
same hereafter as here — if the soul shall retain its 
identity in the resurrection — it must continue to 



126 IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

exist through all the changes of its condition, prior 
to that glorious era. The very idea of a resurrec- 
tion — anastasis, or standing up again — necessa- 
rily presupposes the continuance of the thing raised — 
of mind or spirit, undying and undecaying, beyond 
this life. No power can call from nonentity the lost 
being, and make it the same, for there can be nothing 
left to form the subject of a resurrection. 

What, then, constitutes the resurrection ? It is 
not the resuscitation of a dead soul ; nor the re- 
formation of a spirit from its scattered and dissolved 
spiritual elements ; nor yet the awaking of the soul 
from a long, deep, dreary and dreamless sleep ! But, 
in a metaphysical sense, it is the great change which 
takes place in the condition and relations of the soul. 
What is death ? Every scriptural representation 
seems to indicate that it is a departure of the living 
spirit from its earthly temple. Through every period 
of the Hebrew commonwealth, this idea prevailed 
among the people. It is very similar to the impres- 
sion which prevails at the present time. And this 
idea seems to be recognized as a truth, by the writers 
of both the Old and New Testaments, in their refer- 
ences to the giving up of the ghost. When the 
Redeemer was nailed to the cross, his biographer 
states that " He cried and yielded up the ghost" — 
pneuma — (Matt. 27 : 50.) So, likewise, the prayer 
of Stephen, (Acts 8 : 59,) " Lord Jesus, receive my 
spirit ," shows clearly enough the conviction of the 
sainted martyr, that his spirit (pneuma) was about 
to depart from his body ; and that, he doubtless felt, 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 127 

was death. There was a thing, therefore, conceived 
of, as departing from the body ; and this, in the 
Scriptures, is recognized as a separate being. If, 
then, such is death, what is the resurrection ? Is it 
not clear that it must have some reference to this 
departure of the spirit ? Is it not the return of the 
departing spirit to the inheritance of some sort of 
body ? It is certain that there is a " natural body, 
and there is a spiritual body." And an inspired 
apostle has affirmed, with reference to the dead, "It 
is sown a natural body ; it is raised a spiritual body." 
(1 Cor, 15 : 44.) That the word spiritual (pneuma- 
tikos) has, in this passage, a metaphysical, and not 
a moral sense, is evident from the fact that, in the 
latter sense, it is wholly inapplicable to body ; for 
body, without the mind or spirit, has no moral feel- 
ing. # It is the mind or soul of man, and that alone, 

# Professor Bash affirms that "the apostle is here expressly 
contrasting the soma pihuchikon, natural body, ivith soma pneuma- 
tikon, spiritual body, in moral rather than metaphysical re- 
spects ;" and the words, therefore, should be understood ac- 
cordingly, It must be confessed, however, that such a declara- 
tion, from such a writer, is somewhat surprising, not because it is 
new, but because it is so apparently opposed to the facts in the 
case. The whole drift of the apostle's argument seems clearly 
to show that he was speaking concerning a change of elements, 
not of character, and presenting the contrast between the mate- 
rial or essence of the present and the future body, "How are the 
dead raised, and with what body do they come?" Not, surely, 
with a mere moral body, or a body morally glorious ; for such 
qualities appertain only to the mind as the seat of moral affec- 
tions. He evidently intended to ask what kind of substance 
or essence shall compose the future body. That which thou 
so west dies; But God giveth it a body. So with the dead. 
Cast into the earth with a material body, they are to be raised 
differently, with a most refined and subtle body, composed of 
spiritual elements, and fitted for the indwelling of the perfected 
mind. The following context shows that this was his meaning. 



128 IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

which is the seat and subject of all moral affections. 
The body is a mere instrument through which the 
spirit is able to manifest itself, and hold communion 
with other spirits or minds — a sort of temple, in which 
it lives, and acts, and looks out upon the outward 
world.* The language of the apostle, then, shows 
that, as death is merely a departure of the spirit from 
its earthly body ; so the resurrection is the return 
of the same spirit or mind to dwell in that spiritual 
body prepared for its reception. And this surely 
implies that there must be something existing to re- 
turn again, and stand up, or be elevated to a higher 
condition in a glorious body ; something which, on 
its departure, retains the identity of its being, in a 
disembodied state, and bears back the consciousness 



(1 Cor. 15 : 35 — 56.) The first body is earthly, composed of 
material elements ; the second is heavenly or spiritual. The 
first cannot dwell in the condition of the second. " Flesh 
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God ; neither doth 
corruption inherit incorruption." u The mortal must put on 
immortality." All this seems conclusive in showing that soma 
p?ieumatikon is to be taken in a metaphysical and not a moral 
sense. So the Christian fathers believed. See Macknight, on 
the Epistles; Locke, on 1 Corinthians; Rosenmuller, Scholia, 
in loco. Beza, in Nov. Testamentum. 

* The new vagary of Professor Bush that the phuche or vital 
principle, is a sort of shell or " involucruna " for the pneuma ; 
and that after death it is to grow up into a spiritual or physical 
body for the glorified spirit is hardly worth a confutation. It 
seems perfectly harmless. It may be satisfactory to some minds 
in accounting for the difference between men and brutes; and 
though it gives souls to the latter, yet these are seeds without 
immortality — mere blasted psyches! But such a principle as 
the germ of a future body is both unnecessary and unrecog- 
nized in the Scriptures. God can, and will, give a new body 
constructed of spiritual elements, according to his pleasure, as 
at first he gave the natural body. 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 129 

of that identity into the spiritual vehiculum prepared 
for it. This idea seems to stand out prominently in 
the general argument of Paul on the resurrection of 
the dead. (1 Cor. 15.) 

The same idea is conveyed both by Paul and 
other apostles, in various portions of the Sacred 
Word. The following passages, among others, may 
be quoted : " For we know that, if our earthly 
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a 
building of God, a house not made with hands, eter- 
nal in the heavens." (2 Cor. 5 : 1.) "Yea, I think 
it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you 
U p # # # # knowing that I must shortly put off this 
tabernacle." (2 Peter, 1 : 13.) What is the earth- 
ly house, or " this tabernacle," but the material 
body? And who constitute the /and we that in- 
herit the earthly tabernacle which may be dissolved ? 
Does not the apostle refer to the spiritual part, the 
mind, or soul, that dwells in the body ? It seems 
hardly possible to doubt that he speaks here of intel- 
lectual identity — the conscious soul, that is capable of 
existing separate from the body. What, then, is the 
" building of God," of which he speaks as our in- 
heritance after leaving the earthly tabernacle ? It is 
evidently that spiritual body, (soma pneumatikon,) of 
which he had treated at some length, in his epistle. 
But the " we " are mentioned as distinct, both from 
the earthly and the heavenly house. In 2 Cor. 5 : 
4, the apostle declares that the same "toe, that are in 
this tabernacle, do groan, being burdened, not for 
that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon" — 



r 



I 



130 IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

u clothed upon with our house which is from 
heaven 5 ' — " that mortality jnight be swallowed up 
of life." Can any thing be plainer than the lan- 
guage here used ? The metaphor is changed from 
a house to vestments ; but still there is the necessary 
recognition of a continuing spirit, separate from the 
outward covering, to be unclothed and clothed upon. 
There is a thing existing — a conscious self — that 
goes out of its earthly dwelling and into its house 
not made with hands ; that puts off its mortal vesture, 
and is clothed with celestial garments. This whole 
passage, then, whatever efforts may have been made 
to change its meaning, does conclusively prove the 
existence of a living spirit, which, after leaving the 
body, shall be clothed with glorious vestments, or 
invested with a spiritual vehicle, a celestial body. # 
Thus far, then, the evidence derived from the 
Christian oracles avails to prove the existence of a 
spirit in man, which death cannot annihilate ; which 
continues, perhaps, disembodied, until invested with 
a spiritual vehicle, and raised to a higher condition. 
And this serves to confirm the great truth respecting 
the soul's continuance, which the Jewish Scriptures 
have, in some measure, set forth and sanctioned, in 
their frequent references to the spirit and its abode 

# Vide Harmmond, Annotations on 2 Cor. 5 : 1. 

Hie locus (2 Cor. 5: 1) videtur confirmare hypothesin de 
evolutione corporis subtiiioris statim post mortem inchoanda. 
(Rosenmiiller, Scholia, in loco.) But it does not show that the 
new spiritual body is eliminated from the vital elements (ani- 
ma) of the living being, when that being passes to the grave. 
The antithesis indicates that we shall receive from God a new 
body of celestial elements, which shall never die. 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 131 

in Sheol It sanctions no errors concerning Sheol, 
into which the people had fallen, and which had 
been mentioned, without correction, by the Jewish 
writers ; but it does show that the general impres- 
sion, respecting another life, had some foundation 
in fact. There was a groundwork of truth, how- 
ever fanciful might have been the superstructure 
built upon it. And it cannot be questioned that the 
early inspired writers intended to sanction every 
thing that was true, in the current opinions in 
reference to the soul and its future condition. 

But nothing which has yet been said has had any 
particular reference to another great question that is 
answered by the Christian revelation. The Jewish 
Sciptures evidently assume the existence of a soul 
more permanent and enduring than its temple, the 
body. But the inquiry is equally important, Is that 
soul immortal ? This question receives no affirma- 
tive answer in the Old Testament. Though con- 
jecture, embracing the soul's immortality, in connec- 
tion with the doctrine of metempsychosis, might 
have prevailed to some extent amid the speculations 
of philosophy ; yet there is no allusion to this idea, 
in the Jewish Scriptures, and, of consequence, it 
remained unrevealed until the dawn of Christianity. 
But what are the utterings of the Christian system, 
on this subject ? It is admitted, by all who embrace 
it, that immortality is announced as the portion of 
every being in the resurrection. Opinion, however, 
is divided on the question whether it is a primitive 
attribute of the soul, or a gift communicated by a 



I 



132 IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

higher power after man has begun his existence. 
But the weight of scriptural evidence seems to indi- 
cate that it is a primitive attribute, entering essen- 
tially into the composition of the human spirit at 
its creation. A passage confirming this remark may 
be found in 2 Tim. 1 : 10, where Paul announces, to 
his fellow-disciples, the grace of God, " made mani- 
fest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, 
who hath abolished death, and brought life and im- 
mortality to light through the Gospel." This de- 
claration was evidently made concerning something 
disclosed, not created nor communicated — some- 
thing which had existed as a fact, in prior ages, but 
was then, for the first time, brought to light, or re- 
vealed to the world. The life here mentioned, as 
distinguished from immortality, was unquestionably 
that spiritual life, which was ".hid with Christ in 
God" — or the " mystery that was hid from ages 
and generations;" or, again, the kingdom of God, a 
dispensation of righteousness called everlasting life, 
and designed to effect the regeneration and ultimate 
obedience of all mankind. But the immortality 
brought to light was evidently something different 
from life. Was it not an attribute of the soul, which, 
though a subject of conjecture, had never before re- 
ceived the divine sanction as a fundamental article 
of religious truth ? Immortality of some beings 
was brought to light ; but not surely the immortality 
of angels, or of beings in another sphere of action. 
It was the immortality of mankind. But this could 
not have been disclosed, unless it had been possessed 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL*. 133 

as an inherent attribute of the soul, prior to its dis- 
closure — before the appearing of Christ. 

Is it any marvel that the soul should be immortal, 
and its possessor know it not ? How long is it since 
a close and persevering chemical analysis has dis- 
closed the primary elements of the human body ! 
But is it any more true now, that the outward tempU 
of the soul is composed of oxygen, carbon, hydro* 
gen, iron, lime, phosphorus, and other elements, in 
chemical combination, than it was during that long, 
dim period of fruitless speculation, in which the world 
had not even dreamed of the wonderful and useful 
developments which modern chemistry has made ? 
Revelation has disclosed a great fact relative to the 
inner man, showing its continuance beyond the 
transient scenes of this world. But it was left for 
man himself to discover, as best he could, the ele- 
ments of his outward being, which must soon dis- 
solve and enter into new organizations. Nor does 
the assertion that " God only hath immortality," 
(1 Tim. 6: 16,) furnish any ground for denying 
the original immortality of the human soul. It is 
not true in point of fact, that, at the time when that 
language was used by the apostle, no being but God 
had immortality. Unquestionably there were spirit- 
ual beings, called angels, who, long before the apos- 
tle's day, possessed the same attribute. And surely 
it was long before this time, that Christ had arisen 
and ascended to a state where he could experience 
"no more death,*' and where, in respect to his out- 
ward vehicle, he had been formed "after the. power 

7 



134 IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

of an endless life," (Heb. 7: 16.) The meaning 
of the passage, then, is — not that no other being 
but God is immortal — but that no other being hath 
underived immortality — none but God hath the 
attribute in and of himself. Every other being de- 
rives immortality, like its existence, from the great 
Fountain of all things. And the Scriptures surely 
present strong indications that this Being, in creating 
human souls, has endowed them with the same 
attribute. 

The souls, then, or spirits of men, are created 
immortal, but they are required to dwell for a time 
in transient and dissolving bodies. The apostle, 
however, seems to show that they are ultimately to 
be invested with bodies of an essence similar to their 
own, to which will be communicated the attribute 
of immortality. " This corruptible must put on 
incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortal- 
ity," (1 Cor. 15 : 53.) The same idea is unquestion- 
ably conveyed by another passage, (2 Cor. 5 : 1 — 4, ) 
where the soul is represented as putting off its earthly 
house and putting on its house from heaven. In 
the latter passage, therefore, the apostle fully explains 
what he means by the former. He speaks of "the 
corruptible" and "the mortal'' in the use of me- 
tonymy, referring, doubtless, to the spirit that dwells 
in a corruptible, mortal, and dissolving vehicle ; but 
this spirit, he affirms, must be invested with some- 
thing immortal. It must be disrobed of its decaying 
garments, and clothed upon with its immortal ves- 
ture — leaving its earthly temple, it must enter into 



IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. J 35 

its "house not made with hands." In other words, 
the immortal and incorruptible must supervene upon 
the transient and perishable. And is not that change 
of body like the changing of garments — a putting 
off of the old and fading, and a putting on of the 
new and glorious ? Such surely appears to be the 
meaning of the apostle ; and it shows that a spirit- 
ual and immortal vehicle shall succeed the material 
and decaying body which the soul at present inher- 
its. It was not the spirit that was to receive this 
new attribute ; for the spirit is already immortal. 
But it was to be invested with a body similar to 
itself in nature and properties ; and this of course 
must be immortal. 

When that event shall have transpired, man will 
have entered upon an existence peculiar and glori- 
ous, which is sometimes called a "state of immor- 
tality." Still the attribute itself belongs solely to 
the being in his inward and outward nature, (and 
not to the peculiar state in which he is placed. No 
matter what may be his condition ; if the soul and 
its spiritual vehicle are immortal, man, the being, 
is in a state of immortality.) The attribute, how- 
ever, has no inseparable connection with the moral 
condition. Man is not necessarily perfect, because 
his soul and its spiritual vesture are immortal. It is 
true that in the resurrection, "they neither marry 
nor are given in marriage, neither can they die any 
more, but are equal unto the angels, and are the 
children of God, being the children of the resurrec- 
tion." (Luke 20 : 35, 36.) But it is not the mere 



136 IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

outward change, (the act of resurrection,) the pas- 
sage out of the mortal body, and entrance into the 
spiritual house, which makes them children of God. 
A moral change is necessary to bring the soul into 
that peculiar relationship. This, however, is digres- 
sion, which cannot be pursued farther. Immortality 
is predicated of spirits raised from the dead, in the 
assertion that they "cannot die any more." And 
further, when the soul enters into its spiritual body, 
it takes the similitude of celestial beings ; not neces- 
sarily equal to them, but like angels, (isangelloi,)* 
and therefore immortal. Are not angels immortal, 
both in their intellectual essence, and the attenuated 
spiritual vehiculum, in which it dwells ? No one 
will dispute the fact. It is doubtless the possession 
of this attribute which, in one respect, renders the 
human spirit, in its immortal vehicle, "as the angels 
of God in heaven." 

It is not necessary to proceed farther with the 
examination of scriptural evidences which tend to 
the development of this subject. The conclusion 
of the whole matter is, that the Scriptures do teach 
the existence of a principle in man, called soul, mind, 
or spirit, which is immortal. 

* The word evidently denotes resemblance, not equality. So, 
in Matthew 22 : 30, " They are 6s angelloias, the angels" &c 
There is no reference to equality. Similitude is far from im- 
plying it. 



CHAPTER VII. 

AN EXAMINATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 

SCRIPTURES. 

Having seen that the resurrection of the material 
body is not founded in reason — that there is noth- 
•;ng in the nature of things which demands a simul- 
taneous resurrection ; and having come to the con- 
clusion that such a resurrection will not take place, 
we may inquire, What do the Scriptures say of these 
matters ? Do they contradict the positions we have 
taken? If we credit the work of certain expositors 
they do. There are certain passages which are sup- 
posed to teach that there will be a simultaneous res- 
urrection, and that when this takes place, all the 
bodies of all the human beings that have ever lived 
on the earth shall be raised, and shall clothe the 
same spirits which had once inhabited them. Our 
business shall now be to give some of these passages 
an examination. We will commence with the Old 
Testament. Many passages, however, which are 
pressed into the service of the doctrines under con- 
sideration, do not need this labor; for, if common 
sense is allowed any considerable scope, it will be 
seen that they give it no support and that their real 
meaning is very obvious. Of this character are 



138 AJN EXAMINATION OF THE 

those recorded in Genesis 18 : 7, 8. Psalms 16 : 9, 10. 
Psalms 17: 15, and 49 : 14,15. Isaiah 25: 7, 8. 
Ezekiel 37 : 1—14. Hosea 6 : 2, and 13 : 14. 

The following passages have perplexed many, and 
confirmed not a few in the belief of a general and 
bodily resurrection. And those who are strongly 
wedded to this faith may feel that the language em- 
ployed expresses, as well as it can, their preconceived 
opinions. 

Job 19 : 25, 26, 27: — For I know that my Re- 
deemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter 
day upon the earth : and though after my skin worms 
destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God ; 
whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall 
behold, and not another; though my reins be con- 
sumed within me. 

We shall find by examination, that the learned 
have translated this passage in a variety of ways, 
and that it is very pliable in the hands of expositors. 
This fact should admonish us not to be too positive 
in relation to its import, but to be cautious and not 
set it up as a pillar to any system. 

Many understand that it teaches three things, viz: 
that the word Redeemer refers to the promised Mes- 
siah ; that he shall stand at the last day, when the 
earth shall be destroyed and the resurrection take 
place, and judge all men ; and that Job himself will, 
at or shortly subsequent to that period, see God in 
his flesh, having been clothed upon by the bame 
fleshly body, which had been once laid in the grave 
and consumed by the worms, but which is now re- 



OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 139 

covered from the dust and re-organized and made a 
fit tenement for an immaculate spirit. 

But what is there in this passage, or in the whole 
book of Job, that gives the least countenance to this 
view ? There is the word Redeemer, to be sure ; 
but the original import of the term is very far from 
supporting the idea that Job had reference to the 
Saviour when he used it. Interpreters have variously 
rendered it ; they say it may be defined thus : — vin- 
dicator, avenger, deliverer ; and in the sense of vin- 
dicator Job without doubt employed it in the text. 
For we learn from the context that he was reduced, 
by a succession of calamitous circumstances, to a 
most wretched state of poverty, disease, alienated 
friendship, domestic trouble, and bereavement. He 
says, (chap. 7 : 5,) " My flesh is clothed with worms 
and clods of dust ; my skin is broken, and become 
loathsome." This, and other evils, which Job was 
suffering, induced his pretended friends to accuse 
him of wickedness. They argued that God would 
not so afflict a just man, that sinners only were sub- 
ject to such chastisement. He attempted to defend 
himself against the insinuations of his friends. 
" Then answered Bildad, the Shuhite, and said, (8 : 
1 — 6,) How long wilt thou speak these things? 
and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like 
a strong wind ? Doth God pervert judgment ? or 
doth the Almighty pervert justice ? If thy children 
have sinned against him, and He have cast them 
away for their transgression ; if thou wouldest seek 
unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the 



140 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

Almighty ; if thou wert pure and upright ; surely 
now He would awake for thee, and make the habi- 
tations of thy righteousness prosperous." To this 
Job makes a cogent and eloquent reply ; still the 
friends are not satisfied. Zophar, the Naamathite, 
continued to affirm that he had brought his distress 
upon himself by his unrighteousness. He said, 
(Job. 11 : 1 — 6,) " Should not a multitude of words 
be answered ? and a man full of talk be j ustified ? 
Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when 
thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed ? 
For thou hast said, My doctrine is pure, and I am 
clean in thine eyes. But O that God would speak, 
and open his lips against thee ; and that he would 
shew thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are 
double to that which is ! Know, therefore, that 
God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity de- 
serveth." 

So they continue in this controversy, the one 
defending and the others accusing, till Job seems to 
conclude that his friends are determined to persist in 
urging their charges against him, whatever he might 
say in defence. Consequently, he asks, (Job 19 : 
1 — 6,) " How long will ye vex my soul, and break 
me in pieces with words ? These ten times have 
ye reproached me : ye are not ashamed that ye 
make yourselves strange to me. And be it indeed 
that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself. 
If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, 
and plead against me my reproach ; know now that 
God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me 



OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 141 

with his net." Here Job partially admits the alle- 
gation of his friends, for the purpose, no doubt, of 
ridding himself of their vexatious conversation ; 
but after stating some of the evils which he suffered, 
and appealing to their sympathy, he manifests a 
confidence in God, that he would plead his cause, 
and that the time would come when his character 
and condition would be seen in a more favorable 
light ; " For," says he, " I know that my Vindicator 
liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon 
the earth ; and though after my skin worms destroy 
this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God ; whom I 
shall see for myself and not another ; though my 
reins be consumed within me." Here it is plain 
that Job expected to see God with his natural eyes, 
appearing to vindicate his character ; and in this, it 
seems, he was not disappointed. In the conclusion, 
we learn that God did appear and vindicate him 
most faithfully. For Job addresses him thus : (42 : 
5,) "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear : 
but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor 
myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Then "the 
Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, my wrath is 
kindled against thee, and against thy two friends : 
for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, 
as my servant Job hath. Therefore take unto you 
now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my 
servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt- 
offering : and my servant Job shall pray for you : for 
him will I accept : lest I deal with you after your 

folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing 

7# 



142 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

which is right, like my servant Job." (42: 7,8.) 
The full intent of the passage may now be plainly 
expressed. Job had, by the providence of God, been 
reduced to extreme wretchedness. His friends re- 
ferred his adversity to a wrong cause ; they asserted 
that he must have been a great sinner, or God would 
not have so afflicted him. But Job asserted that he 
was innocent, till he found it of no avail, till he saw 
that his friends were determined to persist in their 
accusations, in spite of all his arguments ; then he 
admitted that the hand of God was upon him, that 
appearances were against him ; but he still mani- 
fests confidence that all would ultimately be placed 
in a right point of view, by virtually saying, that 
though his body was full of disease, and though his 
adversaries had mangled him sorely, yet he should 
live to see God with his natural eyes, who would 
finally appear as his vindicator and friend. 

This view of the text is confirmed by Dr. Ken- 
nicott's translation. He makes it read thus : " For 
I know that my Vindicator liveth ; and He at last 
shall arise over his dust. And after that mine adver- 
saries have mangled me thus, even in my flesh shall 
I see God. Whom I shall see on my side, and mine 
eyes shall behold him, but not estranged from me." 

Isaiah 26: 19. -—Thy dead men shall live, 
together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake 
and sing ye that dwell in the dust : for thy dew is 
as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out 
the dead. 

This portion of Scripture is supposed to afford a 



OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 143 

strong proof of the resurrection of the material 
body. If such proof exist at all in the passage, it 
must, of course, be found in the following words : 
" Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead 
body shall they arise." 

Popular prejudice renders it necessary to give this 
passage a passing notice ; and we hope to make it 
plain that the prophet, when he uttered it, did not 
allude to immortality at all. He occupies nearly 
the whole chapter in celebrrting the deliverance of 
the Jews from their captivity in Babylon and the 
destruction of their adversaries, as may be seen by 
looking at his previous remarks. In the thirteenth 
verse he says, " O Lord our God, other lords beside 
thee have had dominion over us." This language 
beyond a doubt has reference to the captivity of the 
Jews, and this captivity was considered by the in- 
spired writers as a state of death. Ezekiel, speaking 
of deliverance from it, represents the enslaved peo- 
ple as coming up from the place of the dead — as 
being delivered from their graves. His words are, 
(Ezekiel 37: 12,) "Thus saith the Lord j Behold, 
O my people, I will open your graves, and cause 
you to come up out of your graves, and bring you 
into the land of Israel." In foretelling what would 
come upon the people of Israel, the prophet again 
says, "Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto 
the house of Israel ; thus ye speak, saying, if our 
transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine 
away in them, how should we then live ? Say unto 
them, as I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleas- 



144 AN EXAMIJNATIOJM OF THE 

ure in the death of the wicked ; but that the wicked 
turn from his way and live ; turn ye, turn ye from 
your evil ways ; for why will ye die, O house of 
Israel? (Ezekiel 33 : 10, 11.) Isaiah represents this 
captivity nearly in the same light. He says, (Isaiah 
5: 13, 14,) " Therefore my people are gone into 
captivity because they have no knowledge ; and 
their honorable men are famished, and their multi- 
tude dried up with thirst. Therefore hell (the 
grave) hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth 
without measure : and their glory, and their multi- 
tude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall 
descend into it." Thus it is plain that the prophets 
represented the Jewish nation as being dead when 
it was in the Babylonish captivity ; and the deliver- 
ance of this people was spoken of as a deliverance 
from death or the grave, as may be seen by the fol- 
lowing: (Ezekiel 37: 13, 14.) "And ye shall know 
that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, 

my people, and brought you up out of your graves, 
and shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and 

1 shall place you in your own land : then shall ye 
know that I the Lord have spoken it, and perform- 
ed it, saith the Lord," 

Now the chapter, in which the passage under con- 
deration is found, is a song of triumph, wherein is 
celebrated the deliverance of Israel from bondage, 
in which the whole Jewish nation is made to speak 
as one choir; and as the Jews were the peculiar 
people of God, they all speak to him as one man and 
say, "Thy dead shall live " and then they turn to 



OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 145 

themselves and say, "Our dead shall rise." The 
words, meUj together, tvith, found in the passage, are 
supplied, not being in the original. Therefore, the 
true sentiment of the prophet, according to Lowthe, 
may be expressed thus : 

Thy dead shall live, my deceased, they shall arise ; 

Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust ! 

For thy dew is as the dew of the dawn ; 

But the earth shall cast forth, as an abortion, the deceased tyrants. 

The following comment on this passage, by Mr. 
Barnes, fully sustains and elucidates the foregoing. 
"In Isaiah 5 : 14, the chorus (rather the nation, for 
this idea of a chorus is wholly conjectural) is repre- 
sented as saying of the dead men and tyrants of 
Babylon that had oppressed the captive Jews, that 
they should not rise, and should no more oppress the 
people of God. In contradistinction from this fate 
of their enemies, the choir (nation) is introduced as 
addressing Jehovah, and saying, "Thy dead shall 
live ;" that is, thy people shall live again ; shall be 
restored to vigor, and strength, and enjoyment. They 
are now dead ; that is, they are, as I understand it, 
civilly dead in Babylon ; they are cut off from their 
privileges, torn away from their homes, made captive 
in a foreign land. Their king has been dethroned ; 
their temple demolished ; their princes, priests, and 
people, made captive ; their name blotted out from 
the list of nations ; and to all intents and purposes as 
a people they are deceased. The figure is one that 
is common, by which the loss of privileges and enjoy- 
ments, and especially of civil rights, is represented as 



J 46 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

death. So we now speak of a man's being dead in law ; 
dead to enjoyment ; dead to his country ; spiritually 
dead ; dead in sins. I do not understand this, therefore, 
as referring primarily to the doctrine of the resurrection 
of the dead, but to the captives in Babylon, who were 
civilly dead, and cut oflf by their oppressors from their 
rights and enjoyments as a nation. Shall live. Shall 
be restored to their country, and be re-instated in all 
their rights and immunities as a people among the 
nations of the earth. The restoration shall be as 
striking as would be the resurrection of the dead from 
their graves. Together with my dead body shall 
they arise. The words, "together, with," are not in 
the original. The word rendered "my dead body" 
literally means " my dead body,' 7 and may be applied 
to a man or to a beast. Lev. 5 : 2 ; 7 : 24. It is 
also applied to the dead in general, to the deceased, 
to carcasses or dead bodies. See Ps. 79:2; Jer. 7 : 
33; 9: 22; 16: 13; 26: 23; Lev. 11 : 11; Jer. 
34 : 20. It may therefore be rendered my deceased, 
my dead; and will thus be parallel with the phrase 
"thy dead men," and is used in the same sense with 
reference to the same species of resurrection. It is 
not the language of Isaiah as if he referred to his 
own body when it should be dead, but it is the lan- 
guage of the choir that sings, and that speaks in the 
name of the Jewish people. That people is thus 
introduced as saying my dead, that is, our dead shall 
rise. Not only in the address to Jehovah is this 
sentiment uttered, when it is said, "thy dead shall 
rise," but when attention is turned to themselves as 



OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 147 

a people they say, "oar dead shall rise;" those that 
appertain to our nation shall rise from the dead, and 
be restored to their own privileges and land." 

Daniel 12 : 2. — And many of them that sleep in 
the dust of the earth shall awake ; some to everlast- 
ing life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 
Though this text may not be quoted to prove the 
resurrection of the body, yet it is often referred to, by 
a certain class, as proof of a simultaneous resurrec- 
tion and a judgment in the immortal world. But how 
men, who notice the whole scope and tenor of the 
prophet's vision, can so understand it, is not easily 
determined. Nothing seems plainer than that he 
made no allusion whatever to the immortal world. 
Whatever he did mean by the statement, that "many 
of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake ; 
some to everlasting life, and some to shame and ever- 
lasting contempt, it is quite plain that this awaking 
was to take place when there should be a time of 
trouble, such as had never been before ; and this time 
of trouble was to be taken when Michael the great 
prince should stand up ; and he was to stand up when 
a personage spoken of in the eleventh chapter should 
come to his end. 

Says Daniel, in the last verse of the eleventh chap- 
ter and the first verse of the twelfth: "yet he shall 
come to an end, and none shall help him. And at 
that time," — that is, when the individual just spoken 
of shall come to his end, — " shall Michael stand up, 
and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was 
since there was a nation even to that same time : and 



148 AJN EXAMINATION OF THE 

at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one 
that shall be found written in the book. And many 
of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall 
awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame 
and everlasting contempt." To ascertain, then, when 
this passage was fulfilled, we have only to^learn when 
the person mentioned in the forty-fifth verse of the 
eleventh chapter came to his end ; and this we may 
learn by commencing with the eleventh chapter, and 
tracing the events and becoming acquainted with the 
characters spoken of in the vision, which begins with 
this chapter. 

It is said in the tenth chapter, that this vision was 
designed to make Daniel understand what should 
befall his people in the latter days of their national 
existence. The eleventh chapter commences by 
speaking of four kings who should reign in Persia. 
One of whom should be notoriously rich, and gather 
an army from among all nations, and march with it 
against Greece. This agrees with the history of 
Xerxes. But after this king had run his race, Daniel 
says, "A mighty king shall arise, and rule with great 
dominion and do according to his will. But when he 
shall have arisen, his kingdom shall be broken, and 
shall be divided towards the four winds of heaven ; 
and not to his posterity, nor with the dominion with 
which he had ruled ; for his kingdom shall be pluck- 
ed up, even for others besides those." (11 : 3,4.) 
Alexander the great must have been the man here 
referred to ; for he had no posterity, and no king of 
royal blood succeeded him from Macedon, and no 



OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 149 

to 

kingdoms sprung out of his empire, to stand long, 
save the Syrian and Egyptian ; the one on the North 
and the other on the South of Judea ; which are dis- 
tinguished in the Scriptures as the kingdoms of the 
North and the South : and as they were intimately as- 
sociated with the fortunes of the Jewish nation, it was 
very natural that the prophets should speak of them, 
when expounding to that people their duty, and pla- 
cing before their mental view the events of futurity. 
By examining this (the eleventh) chapter, from the 
fifth to the twentieth verse, we shall learn that Daniel 
predicts the history, the mutual relations, and the wars 
of the kings of the North and the South ; and his 
statements agree so well with the histories of the 
Egyptian and Syrian Kingdoms, that their identity 
cannot be disputed. The twentieth verse speaks of 
a Northern king, "who would send a tax-collector 
over the glory of the kingdom, and who would in a 
few days be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in bat- 
tle.' This statement agrees with the history of Se- 
leucus IV., brother and predecessor of Antiochus 
Epiphanes. This Seleucus sent a tax-collector over 
the wealthiest parts of his kingdom, and wrenched 
from his subjects an immense sum to pay a debt 
which his father had contracted with the Roman 
power : and he was soon after poisoned by his treas- 
urer, who designed to wear his crown ; and thus he 
was destroyed neither in anger nor in battle, 

Daniel proceeds to say, that ; ' In his estate," that 
is, in the place of this Seleucus, :i shall arise a vile 
person, to whom they will not give the honor of the 



150 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

Kingdom, but he shall come in peaceably and obtain 
the Kingdom by flatteries" The history of Anti- 
ochus Epiphanes is in perfect harmony with this des- 
cription. He was a person of unbounded vileness. He 
seemed ready at all times, to stoop to the lowest em- 
brace of debauchery and sensualism. In whatever 
part of his Capital he heard of obscene and drunken 
frolics, he was sure to visit the scene whether invited 
or not, and outdo all present in low buffoonry and base 
indecencies. He would frequently stagger from 
drunkenness, through the streets of the city, throwing 
handfuls of money among the people, crying, "Catch 
as catch can." Sometimes he would sally out of 
his place, dressed in a Roman robe, with a crown of 
flowers on his head and a great quantity of pebbles 
under his garments, which he would throw at those 
who attempted to follow him. His conduct at the 
public baths was so vile that it ought not to be men- 
tioned here. The honor of the Kingdom was not 
given him. There were a number of competitors 
for the crown and each had friends. There were his 
brother's son, his brother's murderer, and his brother's 
nephew, Ptolomy king of Egypt, all of whom had 
parties more or less strong, favoring their pretensions 
to the Crown : but by flattery, low intrigue, and 
promises, Antiochus was enabled to crush the in- 
fluence of his rivals, and seize the reins of govern- 
ment without being much opposed by the people. 
Daniel goes on to say, that "with the arms of a flood, " 
as by widely extended and swiftly rushing waters, 
"shall they," i. e., his rivals, "be overflown from before 



OLD TESTAMEJNT SCRIPTURES. 151 

him, and be broken, yea, also the prince of the cove- 
nant," i. e., the Jewish high priest ; for whenever the 
covenant is mentioned, unconnected with specific par- 
ties between whom it had been made, it invariably 
refers to the covenant which God made with the Jews, 
and of which the high priest was pr'ince or prin- 
cipal minister. It is very natural that the high priest 
should be spoken of in close connexion with the de- 
feat of Antiochus. For scarcely had he assumed the 
responsibilities of his reign, when he dispossessed the 
high priest then in office of his authority, and elevated 
to his place a miserable tool of his own, who was 
sworn to disseminate heathen notions and practices 
among his countrymen. Immediately, subsequent to 
a certain contract or league, Daniel says, " he shall 
work deceitfully ;" and twice does Josephus mention 
a league between Antiochus and the Jewish rulers, 
made previous to the outrages which he perpetrated 
against the city of Jerusalem. Once he says, " he, 
pretending peace, got the city by treachery, and ven- 
tured tD break the league he had made, and again he 
attacked us while we were his associates and friends." 
But the prophet goes on : " He shall come up," or 
shall rise, " and grow strong with a small people." 
During the reigns of the two kings which preceded 
Antiochus, Syria had been greatly weakened and re- 
duced in resources ; but under him it increased w T ith 
wonderful speed. " He shall," says Daniel, "enter 
peaceably upon the fattest provinces of the land ; and 
shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his 
fathers' fathers ; he shall scatter among them the 



152 AJN EXAMINATION OF THE 

)rey and spoil and riches ," He had never been 
surpassed in the amplitude of his liberality to his 
ioldiers and friends. " And he shall form his devices 
against the strong holds for a long time," shall lay his 
plans cautiously, " and shall stir up his power and his 
courage against the king of the South," (of Egypt,) 
tC with a great army ; and the king of the South shall 
be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty 
army, but he shall not stand, for they shall form de- 
vices against him, yea, they that eat of his food shall 
destroy him, and the army of his enemy shall over- 
flow his forces, and many shall fall down slain." This 
was accomplished precisely according to the predic- 
tion. Antiochus conquered Ptolomy, of Egypt, not 
so much by superior strength as by the treachery of 
Ptolomy's ministers, who basely betrayed their trust, 
and thus assisted his enemy in subduing him. Ptolo- 
my gave himself into the hands of Antiochus, as a 
prisoner of war, who at first treated him with great 
condescension and apparent kindness ; they eat to- 
gether at the same table, where they labored with all 
their ability to overreach and deceive each other ; 
which conduct Daniel describes, by saying, " And 
both these kings' hearts shall be to do mischief, and 
they shall speak lies at one table ; but it shall not 
prosper ; for yet the end shall be at the time apoint- 
ed." "Then," says the prophet, " shall he," Anti- 
ochus, " return into his own land with great riches ; 
and he will set his heart against the holy covenant, (i.e., 
of the Jews,) and he will execute his purpose, and re- 
turn to his own land." About this time Antiochus 



OLD TESTAMEJNT SCRIPTURES. 153 

marched into Jerusalem with an army, slew 40,000, 
and forced many of the inhabitants into servitude, 
and with his own hands robbed the temple. " At the 
time appointed, 3 ' continues the prophet, " he shall go 
again against the South ; but it shall not be the sec- 
ond time as the first, for ships of Chittim, (a name sig- 
nifying islands in the Mediterranean,) shall come 
against him, and he shall be discouraged and return, 
and be enraged against the holy covenant and execute 
his purpose." Antiochus projected a new scheme for 
the subjugation of Egypt ; but it came to naught ; 
for the new king of Egypt had applied to the Romans 
for assistance, and the senate despatched ambassadors, 
who took passage on board a Greek fleet which was 
at Delos, (one of the islands designated by the term 
Chittim,) met Antiochus as he was about to besiege 
Alexandria, and forced him to abandon his project and 
flee from Egypt, by menacing him with the vengeance 
of Roman displeasure. Chagrined and infuriated by 
this defeat, while on his w r ay home, he sent one of his 
generals with a detachment of 22,000, to sack the 
city of Jerusalem, and open a scene of persecution 
and brutal warfare, which continued without cessation 
for more than three and a half years. Daniel pro- 
ceeds, " He shall even return and have intelligence 
with them that forsake the holy covenant," that is, 
with the apostate Jews, from whom he constantly ex- 
pected to receive material assistance. " And forces 
shall be raised by him, which shall pollute the sanctu- 
ary, of strength, and take away the daily sacrifice, and 
shall set up the abomination that maketh desolate;" 



154 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

i. e., images and idols, and heathen worship, which 
was an abomination to all faithful Jews, and which 
really took place. " And such as do wickedly against 
the covenant shall be corrupt by flatteries ; but the 
people that do know their God shall be strong and do 
exploits;" nor does the whole of history speak of more 
wonderful exploits than those performed by the Mac- 
cabee family and others during that period. " And 
they that have understanding among the people shall 
instruct many ; " which they did in the most faithful 
manner ; " And they shall fall by the sword and by 
flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days. And 
whilst they fall they shall be holpen with a little help." 
Judas Maccabeus, from the beginning, gained some 
partial advantages ; but many shall " cleave to them 
with flatteries ; " flattery was an instrument upon 
which Antiochus depended for success, and which he 
constantly employed ; " and some of them of under- 
standing shall fall," shall fall martyrs, to try them, 
and to purge and to make them white, even to the 
time of the end, because it is yet for a time appoint- 
ed." " And the king shall do according to his will ; 
and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above 
every God, and shall speak marvellous things against 
the God of gods ; and shall prosper until the indig- 
nation be accomplished ; for that which is determined 
shall be done. Neither shall he regard the God of 
bis fathers, nor the desire of women," i. e., the idol 
gods, Astarte and Anaitis, to the worship of which 
the women of Syria were particularly devoted ; "nor 
regard any god, for he shall magnify himself above 



OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 15.1 

all." Antiochus was a reviler of all religions, robbei 
and desecrated all temples, exalted himself above all 
the gods, and with a fiendish joy he labored to sub 
vert all established modes of worship, and to erect 
new systems in the places thereof. " But in theii 
places shall he honor the god of forces," or of strong 
holds, " and a god whom his fathers knew not shall 
he honor with gold, and with silver, and with precious 
stones, and pleasant things. 5 ' He sought to establish 
in Syria the worship of Hercules ; he gave particular 
reverence to this god whom his fathers knew not, and 
who was very properly called the god of strong holds 
and strength. The true sense of the next verse is, 
" He shall act against the fortified palaces with a 
strong god, and shall introduce unto them the worship 
of this strange god Hercules, and whoever acknowl- 
edges him, to him he will give great honor, and give 
him dominion over many, and divide the land among 
them for reward," all of which agrees with the com- 
mon liberality of Antiochus towards those who favored 
his schemes ; for he was munificent in his gifts to 
those sufficiently servile to please his fancy. 

The prophet now recapitulates Antiochus' suc- 
cesses, which have just been enumerated, in order to 
exhibit his sudden fall and disgraceful end, in the 
clearest possible light. "At the time of the end, or 
the accomplishment that is, when this vision shall be 
accomplished, the king of the South (of Egypt) shall 
push at him, and against him shall the king of the 
North (of Syria) come like a whirlwind, with chariots 
and with horsemen, and with many ships ; and ha 



156 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

shall enter into the countries, those regions, and over- 
flow them, and pass over them. He shall also enter 
the land, Palestine, "the glory of the whole earth," 
(as the Jews considered and styled it,) and multitudes 
shall be overthrown ; but these shall escape out of 
his hand, Edom and Moab, and the chief of the 
children of Arnmon," (which nations there is no 
evidence from history that Antiochus ever injured or 
disturbed.) He shall stretch forth his hand also upon 
the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 
And he shall have power over the treasures of gold 
and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt, 
shall get control over all the wealth of Egypt, and 
the Syrians and Ethiopians shall be at his steps or in 
his train," that is, shall serve him ; for great numbers 
from these nations had been made slaves in Egypt, 
and the victories of Antiochus placed them entirely 
in his hands. Yet, after all this success, "tidings out 
of the East and out of the North shall trouble him ; 
therefore shall he go forth with great fury to destroy, 
and utterly to make away many." Near the close of 
his career, he received intelligence that his eastern 
provinces of Persia and Media, and his northern 
province of Armenia, were in a state of rebellion, 
and about to repudiate his authority. Consequently 
he took measures to subdue his rebellious subjects and 
chastise them for their audacity in rejecting his author- 
ity. And here the prophet presents us with another 
striking contrast between his prosperity and adversity. 
"He shall plant the tabernacle of his palace between 
the seas, in the glorious holy mountain," that is, on 



OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 157 

Mount Zion, between the Dead Sea and the Medi- 
terranean, seeming disposed to control both ; and 
there he did encamp and raise strong fortifications. 
"Yet he shall come to his end and none shall help 
him." While on his march to his revolted provinces, 
he went out of his way to visit the city of Elyrnais, 
for the purpose of plundering a very rich temple of 
Diana. But he met with a rough reception, and was 
forced to retreat to Ecbatana. There he heard that 
his army in Judea had been defeated, and that the 
temple had been re-dedicated to God. He suddenly 
commenced his return, and overflowing with rage and 
fury, he swore that he would sink the whole Jewish 
nation beneath the ruins of Jerusalem. On he went 
night and day, ordering his charioteer not to stop for 
rest or sleep. A most malignant and painful disease 
laid its hand upon him, yet onward he drove, till acci- 
dentally precipitated from his chariot upon the ground. 
A litter was then provided, upon which he was laid 
and hurried on, all bruised and exhausted as he was ; 
but he was finally forced to halt at an obscure village 
on the borders of Persia, where he expired in the 
most excruciating misery, both of body and mind. 
"So he came to his end and none helped him." 

Here commences the twelfth chapter. At that time, 
when Antiochus shall come to his end, shall Michael 
arise, the great prince that standeth up for the child- 
ren of thy people, the guardian angel of the Jews ; 
and there shall be, that is, in those days just describ- 
ed, a time of trouble, such as never was since there 
was a nation even to that time ; but at that time shall 

8 



158 EXAMINATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 

thy people be delivered, every one that shall be found 
written in the book, that is, God's book of favor 
and deliverance. And many of those that sleep in 
the dust of the earth, who fall asleep, die, perish, are 
slain, during those times of trouble, shall awake, some 
to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting 
contempt; that is, those who fall in their country's 
cause and are dishonored by Antiochus, shall rise to 
live in the memory of man in immortal honor and 
respect ;— while those who are seduced by him to for- 
sake their country, their religion and their God, shall 
rise to live in the memory of man in that immortal 
infamy and contempt which awaits the traitor. "And 
they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the 
firmament ; and they that turn many to righteous- 
ness," that confirm the faith and courage of their 
brethren, as the stars forever and ever in the moral 
heavens. 



CH AFTER VIII. 
THE SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST. 

The subject to be considered in this chapter is the 
second advent of Christ. And though one of the 
most important subjects in the commonwealth of the- 
ology, perhaps it may be thought by many to be hack- 
neyed, and withal rather void of interest, since it has 
been so much mooted, and especially within a few 
years past. I am not aware that any thing particu- 
larly new can be said upon it, or that any thing more 
is needed to expose the folly of those who have greatly 
disturbed the public mind by endeavoring to propagate 
their absurd fancies and wild speculations concerning 
the second coming of Christ. But the event occu- 
pies so high and broad a place in the New Testament, 
and is so connected with nearly all the teachings of 
Christ and the apostles, that it is almost impossible to 
investigate, at any considerable extent, any other sub- 
ject belonging to the Christian system without having 
more or less to do with this. It has so long been 
associated in the public mind with the resurrection of 
the dead, that it is almost impossible to present a clear 
view of the latter without a pretty thorough examina- 
tion of the former. It has so many bearings also that 
much space is required to give it any thing like a fair 
consideration. 



160 SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST, 

Nothing is more plainly taught in the New Testa- 
ment than the second coming of Christ. Our 
Saviour spoke of it as positively and distinctly as he 
did of any event which he foretold, or of any senti- 
ment which he inculcated. The apostles were so 
much impressed with its truth and importance, that 
they gave it a prominent place in all their instructions. 
No professed follower of Christ pretended to doubt 
it. Indeed they could not, if they regarded his most 
express and definite language. John 14: 18 — "I 
will not leave you comfortless ; I will come to you .;" 
verse 28 : "ye have heard how I said unto you, I go 
away, and come again unto you." And this coming 
has by no means reference to his resurrection ; for in 
John 21 : 22, 23, we have this language, which was 
spoken after that event: "Jesus saith unto him, if I 
will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ? 
follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad 
among the brethren that that disciple should not die ; 
yet Jesus said not unto him, he shall not die ; but if 
I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" 

The time of this coming is stated with equal posi- 
tiveness and perspicuity. It was to take place during 
the lifetime of some of Christ's contemporaries. He 
was very careful to state this fact in the most explicit 
terms. He says, Matt. 16 : 27, 28, "For the Son of 
man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his 
angels ; and then shall he reward every man accord- 
ing to his works. Verily 1 say unto you, there be some 
standing here which shall not taste of death, till they 
see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. "The 



SECOxND ADVENT OF CHRIST. 161 

parallels are Mark 8 : 38. 9: 1. Luke 9: 26, 27, 
and Matt. 24 : 30, 31. 

The disciples put all confidence in these declara- 
tions ; hence they taught and believed that their Mas- 
ter would speedily make his second appearance. That 
the apostles thought the second advent to be near at 
hand when they wrote is obvious from their manner 
of expression. "The Lord is at hand." "Beholck 
the judge standeth at the door." " He that shall 
come, will come and will not tarry." "The night 
is far spent, the day is at hand." " Behold I come 
quickly, and my reward is with me." "The time is 
short." "The time is at hand." "Be ve also 
patient ; establish your hearts for the coming of the 
Lord dravoeth nigh" 

One thing should be particularly noticed here, 
namely, Christ in a number of instances specified the 
time and object of his second advent ; and, I believe, 
in every one of those instances, he stated the object 
was to establish his kingdom and to exercise his kingly 
authority in the moral world ; and he limited the 
time of his coming to the space of a few years, or 
rather, he declared, as we have seen, that it would 
be within the lifetime of some of his disciples, or of 
the generation then living. There are other places in 
the New Testament, where mention is made of the 
coming of the Son of man, without a specification 
of time. Now, by what authority or rule of inter- 
pretation, can comings, thus mentioned, be made to 
refer to the end of time, the conflagration of the 
world, or to the death of individuals ? There is 



162 SECOND ADVEiNT OF CHRIST. 

nothing in reason that will admit of such procedure. 
Should a person, in whose employ I was, say to me 
that he was about to go a journey, but that he should 
return in a few weeks, say six ; and in giving me in- 
structions personally or through his other servants, in 
relation to certain business transactions committed to 
my care, should he often sneak of his return without 
again mentioning the time of it, would it be reasona- 
ble or natural for me to understand that he would not 
return under forty years ? By no means. I must, 
in all reason, understand such mention of a return to 
be the same as that first mentioned in connexion with 
limitations and specifications with regard to time. By 
the same rule are we to interpret the passages which 
relate to the coming of Christ. Wherever we find 
that spoken of, without any specification of time, we 
are to regard it as referring to the coming of Christ in 
his kingdom, which he declared should take place 
before the generation then living should pass away, 
because mention is made of no r>ther coming. 

But in what manner did Christ come the second 
time ? Did he appear bodily during the lifetime of 
that generation or during the apostolic age ? To my 
knowledge, none pretend to believe this, nor that 
he has yet appeared personally upon the earth. That 
he has come the second time, none who regard his 
language can doubt ; for it is unequivocal and can ad- 
mit of but one rational interpretation. If he has not 
come the second time, then has he used language in- 
volving him in a most palpable falsehood, and there 
is no probability that he ever will come ; for, if he 



SECOJND ADVEJNT OF CHRIST. 163 

has made a false statement in relation to the time, we 
have good reason to believe that he has in relation to 
the entire event. That his second advent has taken 
place there is ample proof; but that he has appeared 
bodily and personally since his ascension, we have 
not the slightest evidence. He never intimated to his 
disciples, nor to any one else, that he should make 
such an appearance. He always represented that he 
should come in spirit, in the glory of his Father, in 
his kingdom. The very nature of his kingdom 
precludes the idea of his coming in person. He 
never pretended that it was of a temporal character. 
He declared that it was not of this world, and told 
his disciples that they must not expect earthly great- 
ness, that they would be hated as he was hated, that 
they would be persecuted even unto death, and that, 
if they continued faithful to him, they would finally 
die as he himself should die. " And when he was de- 
manded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God 
(the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven are 
interchangeable phrases) should come, he answered 
them and said, the kingdom of God cometh not with 
observation. Neither shall they say, Lo here ! or lo 
there ! for behold the kingdom of God is within 
you." (Luke 17 : 20, 21.) " The kingdom of God 
is not meat nor drink ; but righteousness, and peace, 
and joy in the Holy Ghost." (Romans 14: 7.) 
Here it is plain that the kingdom, in which Christ was 
to come, was to be established in the hearts of men, 
wherein he would reign through the power of grace 
and truth. And as the kingdom was of a spiritual 



164 SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST. 

and providential character, so, of course, would be his 
second coming. It would be like the operation of 
leaven upon meal. It would be the secret, invisible 
influence of truth and love on the hearts of men, 
penetrating and changing them, till moulded to their 
influence and assimilated to their nature. "The 
kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a 
woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till 
the whole was leavened." (Matt 13 : 33.) 

Were the kingdom of Christ a temporal domain, 
then we might suppose that he would have come per- 
sonally and taken his seat upon a literal throne, to sway 
the sceptre of outward power. But we have seen 
that he was to come in his kingdom, and that this 
kingdom was to be set up in the souls of men, and 
his authority was to be exercised there ; consequently 
his coming must be in a manner suited to it, in power, 
in truth, and in love. 

This being the nature of his coming, it must of 
necessity be a progressive work. He was to come 
and reign in his kingdom, till he should " subdue all 
things to himself" — till " the kingdoms of this world 
become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ." 
(1 Cor. 15 : 24—28. Rev. 11 : 15.) But this was 
not to be accomplished in a moment. A long period 
of time was required to make such a conquest. Christ 
himself compared the advancement and development 
of his kingdom to a grain of mustard seed ; which, 
when put in the ground, germinates, springs forth, and 
gradually strengthens and spreads abroad its branches, 
till it finally becomes a shelter and resting place 



SECOiND ADVENT OF CHRIST. 165 

for the fowls of heaven. (Matt. 13: 31,32.) In 
opposition to this view, other language of Christ 
may be referred to, where he says, in speaking of his 
second advent, " This generation shall not pass away 
till all these things be fulfilled." But, in reply, it is 
only necessary to say, that according to good author- 
ity, this passage ought to be rendered, " This genera- 
tion shall not pass away till all these things shall be," 
that is, shall be-fulfilling, or shall begin to be. Thus 
a full termination is not expressed in the original, but 
simply a commencement and g. running on into futuri- 
ty — a continued course of action from the begin- 
ning. 

It is necessary to consider the second advent of 
Christ as a progressive event. The Christian Scrip- 
tures require this, in order that their prophecies may 
be explained so as to agree with facts found in history. 
His reign commenced very soon after his death, 
and has continued to advance till now, and will go 
on till the kingdoms of this world submit to his 
authority. Its advancement has been marked by a 
number of important epochs ; it has made several 
strong and prominent points in the pathway of its 
progress, which were of great advantage to the king- 
dom, and contributed much to its extension and 
power. In fact it might have been said on several 
occasions that it came with power. The destruction 
of Jerusalem, and of Paganism in the Roman Em- 
pire ; the conversion of the barbarous nations of 
Europe to Christianity, and the Protestant Reforma- 
tion, were epochs of no small importance. Speaking 

8* 



166 SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST. 

poetically, or according to oriental metaphor, Christ 
then " came in the clouds of heaven with power and 
great glory." And history bears the fact plainly upon 
its face, that these distinguished epochs were events 
exceedingly productive of national commotions, wars, 
and calamities. Just before the metropolis of Judea 
sunk in ruins, there were wild and fearful insurrec- 
tions, sanguinary battles, famines, pestilences and great 
distress. And the conversion of the Roman Empire 
to Christianity, under Constantine, was accomplished 
in the midst of stupendous and brutal w r ars; the great 
central power which reared and sustained the Empire 
was now nearly paralysed and set at defiance, The 
glory and authority of the city of Rome and her 
legislators had now dwindled to a mere shadow. The 
army was now the only repository of power. The 
soldier of the most skill and prowess stood in the 
highest place of authority. The purple was a prize 
for which rival emperors strove. There was now 
revolutions in the provinces, mutiny in the army ; 
confusion and rapine reigned triumphant throughout 
the known world. The Romans Empire, though a 
Colossus in strength, fell by pieces or in fragments to 
the ground. It was, says one, as if a thousand mas- 
tiffs had attacked one great lion. They reduced him 
by inches. Long and fierce was the struggle, victory 
declaring sometimes for one side and sometimes for 
the other. At length the barbarians from the north 
rushed down with such impetuosity, as to sweep away 
all opposition ; and finally they made complete con- 
quest of the western empire, and firmly planted 



SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST. 167 

themselves upon its soil. This work had employed 
them about two hundred years ; and they fought with 
each other and with the eastern empire three hundred 
years longer. From the fourth to the ninth century, 
a space of five hundred years, Europe was a great 
field of strife and slaughter ; a valley of death, where 
was heard the confused noise of conflict, and were 
seen garments rolled in blood. 

The Protestant Reformation was accompanied by 
savage and gigantic wars, which were brought to a 
close by the influence of Gustavus Adolphus, after a 
hundred years' continuance. Thus do historical events 
agree with the prophetic statements of Christ. And 
it could well be said, " ye shall hear of wars and 
rumors of wars. There shall be famines, pestilences, 
and earthquakes. And there shall be signs in the 
sun, in the moon, and in the stars ; on earth the dis- 
tress of nations, with perplexities ; the sea and the 
waves thereof roaring, and men's hearts failing them 
for fear ; waiting for those things which are coming 
on the earth. And then shall appear the sign of the 
Son of man in heaven." 

All these things were necessary. By them the way- 
was opened for, and assistance given to the upbuilding 
of Christ's kingdom. The Jewish power was opposed 
to the Gospel ; therefore it must fall before that could 
rise. The Paganism of the Roman Empire must be 
cast down and its opposition rendered powerless be- 
fore Christianity could be extended therein. And 
the barbarism of the Gothic nations must be purged 
out, their wild spirits tamed, and their minds enlight- 



168 SECOND ADVEJNT OF CHRIST. 

ened before they could receive the Gospel. The 
papal intolerance of modern Europe was so hostile to 
Protestantism, that it could only be overcome, and the 
\atter established, by the power of the sword. Hence, 
Christ had said, " Think ye that I am come to send 
peace on the earth ? I tell you nay ; but rather di- 
vision and the sword." Not that Christianity itself 
fostered the spirit of war ; but the ignorance and in- 
iquity of man was disturbed by its pure spirit, and 
came forth to oppose its progress. Thus wars, revolu- 
tions, and the agitation of the elements of human so- 
ciety have been, in some degree, instrumental in elevat- 
ing Christianity, to the place it now occupies. These, 
however, have not been the authorised and direct 
means, but only the incidental and indirect. The 
proper and direct means have been the promulgation 
of the Gospel by human agency ; the inculcation of 
truth by precept and example ; the ceaseless toil of 
Christian teachers ; the zeal and suffering of martyrs ; 
the persuasive power of love and self-sacrifice ; the 
miraculous evidences of the divinity of Christ's 
mission. These instruments were sufficient to estab- 
lish the Christian religion in Jerusalem and Samaria, in 
the very midst of Jewish violence and bigotry ; they 
were employed in Western Asia, and in Southern 
Europe, until the Roman Empire bowed in reverence 
and submission before it ; and among the rude nations 
of the middle ages have they operated till they have 
wrought out the present civilization of the Christian 
world. At first Christ came in the flesh, but not so 
was his coming in the events mentioned ; this was in 



SECOND ADVEJNT OF CHRIST. 169 

spirit. His kingdom was not an outward organization 
of a civil and military character. He reigns through 
the medium of the doctrine which he taught and the 
spirit which he imparted. This we conceive to be 
the proper interpretation of the second advent of 
Christ. In no other sense can the details be made 
to harmonize with the facts. In this sense his second 
coming can be called powerful and glorious. 

This coming of Christ in his kingdom is termed, 
by the inspired writers, "the last day or the last days." 
And according to the prophet, these last days or these 
times of the Messiah, were to be seasons of vast 
moral and religious improvement. He says, " And it 
shall come to pass in the last days, that the moun- 
tain of the Lord's house shall be established in the 
tops of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the 
hills ; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many 
people shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up to 
the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of 
Jacob ; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will 
walk in his paths ; for out of Zion shall go forth the 
law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And 
he shall judge among the "nations, and shall rebuke 
many people ; and they shall beat their swords into 
plough shares, and their spears into pruning hooks : 
nation shall no.t lift up sword against nation, neither 
shall they learn war any more." Isaiah 2: 2- — 4. That 
this language has reference to the reign of the Mes- 
siah none will doubt ; and that the [\ last days " here 
mentioned, relate to the Gospel day, the day when 
Christ should come in " his kingdom with power and 



170 SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST. 

great glory," is evident from the following language 
of St. Paul: "God, who at sundry times, in divers 
manners, spake in times past unto the fathers by the 
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by 
his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, 
by whom he also made the worlds. Hebrews 1 : 1,2. 
See also verses 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. We are to under- 
stand, then, by the phrase " last day," not the end of 
the world, or the time of the closing up of all earthly 

things, but rather the times of the Messiah's reign 

the Gospel day or dispensation. It is equivalent to 
the last times — the last ages — the world to come — 
the coming of Christ in his kingdom. 

There were connected with the dawn and advance- 
ment of this " last day," or with the rise and pro- 
gress of Christ's kingdom, several particulars, which 
demand a very careful consideration as we pass along. 

According to the Scriptures, the Old Covenant 
was to be destroyed at or near the commencement of 
the {i last days" or the reign of Christ ; and it is 
described by the apostle Peter in that bold and met- 
aphorical style which characterises the writings of 
the prophets. He says, " Knowing this first, that 
there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking 
after their own lusts, and saying were is the prom- 
ise of his coming ? for since the fathers fell asleep, 
all things continue as they were from the beginning 
of the creation. For this they are willingly igno- 
rant of, that by the word of God the heavens were 
of old, and the earth standing out of the water, and 
in the water, whereby the world that then was, being 



SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST. 171 

overflowed with water, perished ; but the heavens 
and the earth which are now, by the same word are 
kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of 
judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, be- 
loved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day 
is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thou- 
sand years as one day. The Lord is not slack con- 
cerning his promise, as some men count slackness; 
but is long suffering to us ward, not willing that 
any should perish, but that all should come to re- 
pentance. Bat the day of the Lord will come as a 
thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall 
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall 
melt with fervent heat; the earth, also, and the works 
that are therein, shall be burned up. Seeing, then, 
that all these things shall be dissolved, what man- 
ner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversa- 
tion and godliness, looking for, and hasting unto the 
coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens be- 
ing on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall 
melt with fervent heat ? (2 Peter 3 : 3 — 12.) 

The opinion has extensively prevailed that this 
language has direct reference to the destruction of 
the material universe. But that this opinion is not 
well founded, a few remarks and references will 
show. The prophet Joel uses similar language, 
which Peter, in the second chapter of Acts, applies 
to events transpiring on the earth, at the time he 
spoke. On the day of Pentecost, the apostles 
preached to an audience made up of men from all 
nations, and there was a mighty outpouring of the 



172 SECOJND ADVEJNT OF CHRIST. 

spirit, and every man heard in his own language, 
and they were astonished and said what meaneth 
these things ? and some replied that those who had 
been speaking to them were full of new wine. But 
Peter stood up and denied this, and on the contrary 
said, " This is that which was spoken by the prophet 
Joel, and it shall come to pass in the last day, saith 
God, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh : and 
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and 
your young men shall see visions, and your old men 
shall dream dreams ; # # # # and I will show won- 
ders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; 
blood and fire, and vapor of smoke ; the sun shall 
be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, 
before that great and notable day of the Lord come. " 
Acts 2 : 16, 17, 19, 20. We are evidently not to 
understand this language literally. It does not teach 
the destruction of the literal heavens and earth ; for 
Peter assures us that it was fulfilled in his day, and 
yet the earth, the sun and the moon, remain undis- 
turbed. But read the language of Isaiah in relation 
to the destruction of Idumea. " And all the hosts 
of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall 
be rolled together as a scroll : and all their hosts 
shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, 
as a falling fig from a fig tree. For my sword shall 
be bathed in heaven : behold it shall come down 
upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to 
judgment." Isaiah 34 : 4, 5. The events here 
described by the prophet were long since consum- 
mated ; yet the material universe has not been 



SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST. 173 

destroyed. Much more to the same purpose might 
be quoted, but this is sufficient to show that Peter, in 
the passage under consideration, might use very 
strong language, as did the prophets, and not intend 
to describe the destruction of the material world. 
And a more close observation of his language will 
confirm this fact. He begins the passage under 
review, by saying that what he was about t describe 
would take place in the " last days ; " and so did the 
very similar language which he quoted from Joel set 
forth what would come to pass at the last day ; yet 
he declares it to have been fulfilled in the day of 
Pentecost, eighteen hundred years ago. 

Let it be farther noticed that the apostle Peter, in 
the third chapter of his second epistle, in the fifth, 
sixth and seventh verses, mentions two worlds: 1. 
The old one, which had perished by water, and, 2. 
That of the then present time, which was to be con- 
sumed by fire. Then in the thirteenth verse, he 
announces a third world, to succeed the destruction 
of the last; according to his promise, we lock for a 
new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth 
righteousness. It is not the visible heavens, and 
the material earth, of which the apostle treats in 
either passage ; because the old world of which he 
speaks had been already destroyed by water, and 
yet the material heavens, together with the material 
earth, still remained. By that tvorld, therefore, must 
be understood, mankind living in the world. They 
having been destroyed by the deluge, there was 
founded another world, for the proper observance of 



174 SECOND ADVEJNT OF CHRIST. 

the worship of God. The foundation of this world 
God placed in the family of Noah ; but the whole 
fabric was completed by the organization of the 
Jewish Church, (or by the making of the old cove- 
nant.) And this was the world which Peter, in 
that passage, predicted, according to the prophetic 
style, should be destroyed by fire. To this purport, 
we read in Isaiah 51: 15, 16, "I am the Lord 
thy God, that divided the sea tvhose waves roared ; 
the Lord of hosts is his name. And 1 have put my 
toords in thy mouth, and have covered thee in the 
shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, 
and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto 
Zion, thou art my people. 

At the time, therefore, when God, dividing the 
sea, and leading forth his people out of Egypt, en- 
trusted to them his word or big law, with the solemn 
appointment of his worship, thus forming them into 
a church for himself, then it was that he instituted 
and finished this new world, the heavens and the 
earth spoken of. And at the time when Peter wrote, 
this world, that is, the Jewish church now aposta- 
tized, was about to be destroyed by fire, after the 
same manner in which that old world had perished 
in the deluge. It was by the conflagration of the 
temple and of the city, that the system of that 
world was dissolved. At which time the most ter- 
rible judgments fell upon the Jewish nation and up- 
on Jews every where, — calamities such as had never 
fallen upon any nation before, came upon them, and 
they were carried captives among all nations, to be 



SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST. 175 

a hissing and a bye-word even to this day. (But 
after the destruction of this old world or old cov- 
enant) the apostle commands the believers to look 
for another world, for a new heavens and a new 
earth, according to the promise of God. That prom- 
ise is found in Isaiah 65: 17, and likewise, in the 
same words, in chap. 66 : 22. "-Behold," says he, 
c: 7 will create new heavens and a new earth, neither 
shall the former be remembered, nor come into mind." 
In these passages, the prophet describes the state of 
the church after the advent of Christ > when, as it is 
expressed in the 21st verse of the last chapter, God 
should take of the Gentiles for priests and Levites, 
or, in other words, when he should institute the 
Gospel ministry. This state of the church, (or of 
the Gospel kingdom) was, therefore, wont to be 
designated, before the conflagration of that second 
world, as the age to come, or the future world ; even 
as St. Paul teaches us, in the epistle to the Hebrews, 
2: 5, saying, " % For unto the angels hath he not put 
in subjection the ivorld to come, of tvhich we speak; 
and likewise in chap. 6: 5, where he says, "And 
have tasted the good word of God, and the powers 
cf the world to come. Therefore that first or old 
world perished by a deluge of water; the second, 
or that existing in the apostle's time, he declares 
should perish by fire ; but the future, he intimates, 
was to endure even to the consummation of time." # 
The last day, or the time of the Messiah's reign, 
is spoken of, by the New Testament writers, as a 

* Owen, as found in Paige's Selections, p. 283. 



176 SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST. 

resurrection day, or as a time when the morally 
dead should be raised to life. Hence, says the 
apostle, (Ephesians 5: 14,) "Awake, thou that 
sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall 
give thee light. " But let us be careful, here, lest we 
stumble, as the world has generally stumbled, on 
this subject. A want of caution, or something 
worse, has cast a cloud of confusion and error over 
nearly every feature of the doctrine of immortality. 
The resurrection, which is spoken of as belonging 
exclusively to and connected with the operations of 
the last day, is produced by faith ; and I suppose 
few, if any, will pretend that our resurrection to 
immortality depends upon or is the result of faith. 
• The general opinion is, that all men will be raised 
to immortality, whether they believe or not ; — yet 
the following passage is supposed, by many who 
entertain this opinion, to relate to the immortal res- 
urrection state : "And this is the Father's will which 
hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, 
I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again 
at the last day. And this is the will of him that 
sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and 
believeth on him, may have everlasting life ; and I 
will raise him up at the last day." John 6 : 39, 40. 
Mr. Paige says, in his comments on this passage, 
"that a resurrection to immortality, at some time, is 
distinctly intimated" here. If so, then it is just as 
distinctly intimated that this resurrection will be the 
result of faith. Faith is a contingency, the want of 
which will prevent any individual from being raised 



SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST. 177 

to immortality. But I would ask Mr. Paige, or any 
other man, whether he is prepared to admit this con- 
clusion ; and if so, whether he is not prepared to ad- 
mit, also, that all unbelievers will be annihilated ; or, 
at least, will not be raised from the dead ? But without 
farther delay, let us compare the passage before us, 
with what is said elsewhere in the New Testament, 
and I think we shall be convinced that it has refer- 
ence to a moral or spiritual resurrection, and not to 
immortality. Saith Paul to the Ephesians, " But 
God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love where- 
with he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, 
hath quickened us together with Christ ; (by grace 
ye are saved,) and hath i*aised us up together and 
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ 
Jesus ; that in the ages to come," (or in the last days) 
"he might show the exceeding riches of his grace 
in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus." 
Here is, plainly, a resurrection from a death in sin ; 
and the language employed to describe it is similar 
to that found in the passage under consideration ; 
the similarity of sentiment is also obvious. In the 
one place it is said, "And I will raise him up at the 
last day;" in the other it is said, "Hath raised us 
up," "who were dead in sin," "that in the ages to 
come," (which is equivalent to last day,) "he might 
show the exceeding riches of his grace." Again ; 
Christ uses language precisely to the point : " Verily 
verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, 
and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting 
life, and shall not come into condemnation ; but is 



178 SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST, 

passed from death unto life." All will doubtless 
admit that this refers wholly to the spiritual change 
or resurrection wrought in believers, by the power 
of the Gospel, in this life. St. Paul had reference 
to the same sort of a resurrection in the following 
language, "And be found in him, not having mine 
own righteousness which is of the law, but that 
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteous- 
ness which is of God by faith ; that I may know 
him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fel- 
lowship of his sufferings, being made conformable 
unto his death ; if by any means I might, attain 
unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I 
had already attained, either were already perfect; 
but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for 
which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." 
(Philippians 3 : 9 — 13.) See also John 6 : 44. And 
this kind of a resurrection is always spoken of as 
being the result of faith in Jesus Christ, followed by 
good works ; but not so with the resurrection to im- 
mortality ; hence the conclusion that the resurrec- 
tion, spoken of in the passages introduced under this 
head, is a moral or spiritual resurrection, which is 
continually going on in this world, ? nd will continue 
to go on, as long as Christ shall continue to reign in 
his kingdom here. 

The last or gospel day is said in the Scriptures to 
be a judgment day. Thus we read — "And so much 
the more as ye see the day approaching ;" "reserved 
unto fire against the day of judgment ;" "the day 
of the Lord will come as a thief in the night ;" "the 



SECOIND ADVENT OF CHRIST. 179 

same shall judge him in the last day ;" "so shall it 
be in the end of the world ;" "I charge thee, there- 
fore, before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who 
shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing 
and kingdom." "Therefore, judge nothing before 
the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring 
to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make 
manifest the counsels of the heart: and then shall 
every man have praise of God." If we now turn 
to those passages which describe the second coming 
of Christ and the establishment of his kingdom, we 
shall find it made very plain that one object of his 
reign was to dispense judgment. "When the Son 
of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy 
angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne 
of his glory ; and before him shall be gathered all 
nations : and he shall separate them one from 
another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the 
goats ; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, 
but the goats on the left." (Matt. 25 : 31—33.) 
"For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his 
Father with his angels ; and then shall he reward 
every man according to his works." Verily I say 
unto you, there be some standing here, which shall 
not taste of death, till they see the Son of man 
coming in his kingdom." (Matt. 16: 27,28.) In 
Luke 19 : 11 — 27, Christ compares himself to a 
nobleman who went into a far country to receive for 
himself a kingdom, and to return. "And it came 
to pass, that when he was returned, having received 
the kingdom," he sat in judgment on the doings of 



180 SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST. 

his servants, and rendered to every man according as 
his works had been. So in Daniel 7 : 10. The 
judgment was set and the books were opened.* * # 
One like the Son of man came with the clouds of 
heaven; # # * and there was given him a kingdom. 
* * * It was when Christ received the kingdom, that 
he commenced his mediatorial reign, that the judg- 
ment was set and the books were opened. Then he 
began to rule and reign and judge ; and he will thus 
continue to do, throughout the last day. But it may 
be asked, how will he thus judge ? He has answered 
this question in these words : "He that rejecteth me, 
and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth 
him : the word that I have spoken, the same shall 
judge him in the last day.'' (John 12: 48.) 

That the reign of the Messiah was to be a resur- 
rection and judgment day seems clearly taught in 
the following : "And hath given him authority to 
execute judgment also, because he is the Son of 
man. Marvel not at this : for the hour is coming, 
in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his 
voice, and shall come forth ; they that have done 
good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have 
done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." 
(John 5 : 27, 28, 29. J That this language has been 
employed to prove a literal resurrection and that 
there will be a retribution in the future state, few 
can be ignorant. But a fact or two will show that it 
proves nothing of the kind. The general opinion is, 
that when men die, they go immediately to the spirit- 
world, and are there judged according to their deserts 



SECOND ADVENT OF CHIUST. 181 

and are sent to heaven or hell, as the case may be. 
But the resurrection is to be simultaneous and at 
some future time, when all that are in the graves 
shall come forth ; "they that have done good unto 
the resurrection of life ; and they that have done 
evil unto the resurrection of damnation." Now the 
question is, What will come forth ? Why, that 
which is in the graves. Well, what is in the graves ? 
If anything is there, it is the bodies of those who 
have died, and nothing but the bodies ; for the spir- 
its of all the dead went immediately at death to the 
world of spirits ; and were there judged and sent to 
their respective places of abode, — yet the resurrec- 
tion had not taken place. There is nothing in the 
graves but dead bodies or their dust, and nothing 
else can come out. Then all the bodies that have 
done good will come forth to the resurrection of 
life, and all that have done evil unto the resurrection 
of damnation ! Nothing can be more absurd than 
such views : for we have shown in a preceding 
chapter that the body, in itself considered, is not a 
moral agent : and morally speaking, it is not capa- 
ble of distinguishing between good and evil, any 
more than the brute beast, or the senseless rock. It 
cannot therefore be properly said to have done either 
good or evil. 

Let us take another view of the matter. All will 
doubtless admit that the twenty-fourth and twenty- 
fifth verses refer to a moral or spiritual resurrection, 
about to take place ; when Christ uttered the lan- 
guage composing them. Notice then the fact that 

9 



182 SECOND ADVEJNT OF CHRIST. 

the words, rendered good and damnation in the 
twenty-ninth verse, are of the same import of those 
in the twenty-fourth verse, rendered believeth and 
condemnation. Hence Lightfoot makes the twenty- 
eighth and twenty-ninth verses refer to the same 
spiritual resurrection mentioned in the twenty-fourth 
and twenty-fifth verses ; and of course, those that 
are styled the dead, in the twenty-fifth verse, are the 
same as those who are said to be in the graves, in 
the twenty-eighth verse. The sense then may be 
expressed thus : they that do good after they hear 
Christ's voice in the gospel, shall come forth to the 
resurrection of life and peace ; and they that do evil 
after they hear the gospel, unto the resurrection of 
condemnation and misery. It may be objected, that 
Jesus meant by those in the graves, the literally dead, 
simply because the word graves is used, and that 
their resurrection must be to immortality ; but the 
prophet Ezekiel uses similar phraseology in chapter 
37 : 11 — 14, where he is evidently speaking of those 
morally and civilly dead. 

In concluding this chapter, it may be observed 
that there is nothing very strange in the fact that 
theologians should imagine that there would be a 
simultaneous resurrection and a general judgment, at 
the end of time, or at the end of the world, seeing 
they believed that the second advent of Christ 
would then take place. Had they supposed that 
Christ came at the end of the old covenant or Jew- 
ish dispensation, and that he would rule and judge 
throughout his mediatorial reign, we should have 



SECOiND ADVEMT OF CHRIST. I S3 

heard little of a general judgment at the end of 
time. And it is passing strange that those who dis- 
believe in the general judgment should hold to a 
general or simultaneous resurrection ; to be consis- 
tent, they ought to believe in the one as much as in 
the other ; for we have seen that the judgment day 
and the resurrection day are the same. They both, 
however, belong, as we have seen, to the Gospel day, 
the last day, or the reign of the Messiah. 



CHAPTER IX. 

AN EXAMINATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 

SCRIPTURES. 

In examining those passages, relating to the doc- 
trine of the resurrection, found in the New Testa- 
ment, it seems necessary to introduce one from the 
writings of the apostle Paul, first ; for it is so closely- 
interwoven with the principles of the second advent 
that it ought to be placed in connection with the 
examination of that doctrine. Paul had been most 
faithful in his great office ; his experience had been 
wonderful and his fortune varied ; and when near 
the end of his earthly pilgrimage, as he supposed, 
he gave Timothy some very pointed instruction in 
relation to his duty ; and in the following language 
presented his own deportment and expectations. 

II. Timothy 4: 5 — 8. "But watch thou in all 
things; endure afflictions, do the work of an evan- 
gelist, make full proof of thy ministry. For I am 
now ready to be offered, and the time of my depar- 
ture is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have 
finished my course, I have kept the faith. Hence- 
forth there is laid up for me a crown of righteous- 
ness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give 
me at that day : and not to me only, but unto ail 
hem also that love his appearing." 



EXAMINATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 185 

The popular view of this is, that Paul expected 
to receive his crown at some future period, in the 
immortal world, after a general resurrection and 
judgment had taken place. If we consider three 
particulars contained in this passage we shall find 
that the apostle expected no such thing. These 
particulars relate to the faith which he had kept, the 
fight wliich he had fought, and the crown which he 
expected to receive. 

"J have kept the faith." What are we to under- 
stand by this declaration ? Are we not to under- 
stand, that Paul had continued steadfast in the 
belief of some truth, which was communicated to 
him, while on his way to Damascus ? Was not his 
faith grounded upon his convictions of the fact, that 
Christ was the true Messiah, the sent of God, the 
appointed medium through which He designed to 
bring the world of mankind, to the knowledge of 
the truth, to the practice of righteousness, and to 
the enjoyment of salvation ? This was doubtless 
the faith which Paul kept. For this faith he labored 
and suffered reproach. Those who were destitute 
of it were exceeding mad with him for having be- 
lieved and preached it. A warfare was commenced 
against him when he renounced Phariseeism ; and 
therefore he was obliged to strive and toil incessantly 
during his ministry, suffering all sorts of persecution 
and reproach ; but he "kept the faith," and when 
his departure drew nigh, he was resigned and peace- 
ful. He relied upon the grace of God, and not upon 
his own strength ; and he could meet all the buffet- 



186 AN EXAMlNATlOiN OF THE 

ings of the world with joy and wait God's appointed 
time with patience. 

Paul not only kept the faith, but he "fought a 
good fight." It was a good fight which he fought, 
because the weapons of his warfare were not carnal, 
but spiritual and mighty to the pulling down of the 
strong holds of sin and ignorance. He went forth 
to the combat, armed in the spirit of truth and love. 
He was met by the evil passions and wicked devices 
of men ; he was scourged and reviled, proscribed 
and misrepresented ; and how differently does he 
now conduct from what he did when he was Saul 
of Tarsus ! Instead of returning blow for blow and 
injury for injury, he strives to overcome evil with 
good and to destroy his enemies by making them 
friends. He had received the spirit of Christ and 
the truth of heaven into his soul ; he had thus learn- 
ed that his adversaries were children of God, and 
with himself, heirs of immortal felicity; and that 
when the blood of Christ, which cleanseth from all 
sin, should accomplish its perfect work, their malig- 
nity and wickedness would he no more. Therefore 
he endeavored to touch their hearts with the same 
spirit which had transformed his own, by setting 
before them the doctrine, precepts, example, death, 
and resurrection of his Master. 

This was a glorious warfare ; and the apostle 
fought a good fight indeed. He exhibited a courage 
in this moral battle, more sublime than all that 
earthly conquerors have ever displayed. It was 
the courage of principle, which dares to hazard 



NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 187 

reputation, rank, the prospects of advancement, the 
sympathy of friends, the admiration of the world, 
rather than violate a conviction of duty. This kind 
of courage infinitely transcends all physical courage ; 
for it is the exercise, result, and expression of the 
highest attributes of human nature. It stimulated 
Paul to fight a good fight — to fight with the weap- 
ons of truth and love for human happiness, improve- 
ment and virtue ; and it did not quail before the 
most imminent danger. And if any of earth's great 
warriors deserve to have their names written high on 
the scroll of fame and to be crowned with honor, 
how much more so does St. Paul ! For is not a 
courage, which urges men on to deliver their fellows 
from the thraldom of sin and every blighting curse, 
by the exercise of love and the defence of truth, at 
the hazard of all earthly aggrandizement, more glo- 
rious than that courage which urges them on to 
drench the earth in blood, and tears, and to rear 
monuments of carnage, ruin and distress, merely to 
gratify a selfish ambition, a love of power and 
worldly distinction ? Yet few, who have been, and 
are now, renowned for their military prowess and 
deeds of valor, have been influenced by higher 
motives than the gratification of a selfish ambition. 
But the love of truth and righteousness induced St. 
Paul to fight the good fight of philanthropy, though 
death stared him in the face ; and therefore he de- 
serves to occupy a high place in our soul's reverence, 
and to receive the admiration of our noblest 
powers. 



188 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

For having kept the faith, and having fought a 
good fight, Paul expected to receive a crown of 
righteousness. But when did the apostle expect to 
receive this crown ? He says, "Henceforth there is 
laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the 
Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day. 17 
At "that dayf* then, the crown was to be given him. 
To what day did he refer? It is evident that when 
the apostle uses the phrase that day, he refers to a 
day or an event, of which he had previously spoken. 
Were this not the case, neither Timothy nor any 
one else would be able to understand him. By 
looking at the first of the chapter from which this 
passage is taken, we have the day or event specified 
in these words ; "I charge thee therefore before God 
and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the 
quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom." 
When Christ appeared in his kingdom Paul received 
his crown ; and we have seen in a previous chapter 
that this took place during the lifetime of some of 
his disciples. And all will now admit, I suppose, 
that Christ came in glory and power to establish his 
spiritual kingdom on the earth, during the sipostolic 
age. At that time, Paul received an honorable 
place in the kingdom and was crowned a ruler, sub- 
ordinate only to the King himself, and participated 
in the honors due all those who had been faithful 
soldiers in the Christian warfare. The declaration 
that Christ was to "judge the quick and the dead at 
his appearing," does not militate against this view ; 
for some of this character were living on the earth 



3NEVV TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 189 

in the days of the apostle. He says to the Ephe- 
sians, — "And you hath he quickened, who were 
dead in trespasses and sins : wherein in times past 
ye walked according to the course of this world, 
according to the power of the prince of the air, the 
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobe- 
dience. * # * * Even (God) when we were dead 
in sins hath quickened us together with Christ." 
Eph. 2 : 1, 2. 

The sum of the whole matter seems to be this : As 
a nobleman who spends his strength, his knowledge, 
and his treasures, in assisting a prince to obtain a 
kingdom and to establish his kingly authority there- 
in, receives a high station in the government of the 
kingdom, and is crowned with honor according to 
his merit, — so Paul, who had "fought a good fight" 
for the King of Zion, suffered reproach in his cause, 
and exercised much power in the establishment of 
His authority and reign, expected to be promoted to 
a station in the kingdom according to his merit, and 
to be crowned with the honors due his services. 
This position is proved by the language of Christ 
himself. He says, "Verily I say unto you, that ye 
which have followed me in the regeneration, when 
the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, 
ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the 
twelve tribes of Israel." (Matt. 19: 28.) But as 
the kingdom of Christ was to be a spiritual kingdom 
and was not to have a visible throne or king, so 
Paul's honor and authority was to be spiritual. 
"The twelve tribes of Israel," mentioned in the pas- 



] 90 AH EXAMINATION OF THE 

sage just quoted, must be deemed, according to St. 
James, a kind of figured or prophetic designation 
of the Christian Church, or Messiah's kingdom, in 
the midst of which the apostles are to be conceived 
as enthroned, their deeds and virtues honored, and 
their writings and doctrines regarded as authority in 
matters of faith and practice. 

Professor Bush, after proving that the word Judge 
in the Scriptures embraces the idea of a ruler, says, 
" In all these passages, which are but specimens of 
multitudes of others of a similar import, we read 
the clear pre-intimations of one grand character of 
the Messiah's reign. It was to be a dispensation of 
judgment ; even as Christ says himself, — "The 
Father hath given him authority to execute judg- 
ment" And again, "The Father judgeth no man, 
but hath committed all judgment to the Son." 
(John 5 : 22.) As then the setting up of the king- 
dom of the Son of man was, in fact, the commence- 
ment of this grand process of judgment, which 
was to run parallel with its duration ; therefore, 
our Lord, in immediate prospect of that important 
era, declares, "Now is the judgment of this world ; 
now is the Prince of this world cast out;" (John 
12: 31,) that is, this judgment is just upon the eve 
of entering on its accomplishment. # # # # His second 
coming commenced with that new order of things 
which is, in the main, to be dated from the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem, when the session of judgment 
had its beginning, which is to be considered as con- 
tinuing through the whole period of the dispensation. 



NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 191 

In this judicial administration it is, moreover, the 
clear teaching of both Testaments that the saints 
were to share with Christ. Enoch prophesied, 
"Behold the Lordcometh with myriads of his saints 
to execute judgment upon all." David says, "that 
to execute the judgment written is an honor which 
all the saints are to have." Isaiah also says, "Be- 
hold, a King shall reign in righteousness, and a 
Prince shall rule in judgment." Thus, too, in the 
passage already quoted from Daniel, "judgment was 
given to the saints of the Most High," and upon 
this is the express declaration of Paul, that "the 
saints shall judge the world." Nothing else than 
this is implied in Revelations, where it is said of the 
saints that overcome, that they shall "have power 
over the nations, and they shall rule them with a rod 
of iron ; as the vessels of a potter shall they dash 
them to pieces." # 

If this be correct, as we have no doubt it is, we 
need not wonder that St. Paul should expect, after 
having fought his battles in the cause of Christ, to 
have his name written high on the records of the 
Church. It is not strange that he should expect to 
receive an honorable station in the kingdom of 
Christ, when he had labored so faithfully and 
ardently to establish it in the earth. It is not mar- 
vellous that he should expect to be crowned with 
authority, to exercise a righteous judgment there, 
by his virtues, his example and his writings. 

A passage very similar to this is found in Philip- 
pians3: 20,21. "For our conversation is in heaven; 
# Bush on the Resurrection, p. 183. 



192 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord 
Jesus Christ ; who shall change our vile body, that 
it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, 
according to the working whereby he is able even 
to subdue all things unto himself." That the vile 
body, here mentioned, was to be changed at the 
coming of Christ in his kingdom, and not at the time 
when it is supposed a general resurrection will take 
place, is evident from the first part of the text, which 
reads, "our conversation is in heaven, from whence 
we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ ;" 
and the New Testament says nothing about Christ's 
coming in any way or at any time except in his 
kingdom. The early disciples looked with a great 
deal of solicitude for the second appearance of Christ ; 
for then they expected to be delivered from persecu- 
tion, and their low and despised condition ; they 
had been considered propagators of falsehood, and 
they hoped then to have their characters vindicated 
and the truth of their cause fully established. This 
view the passage just quoted sustains. It should 
however be noticed that the apostle does Hot say that 
Christ would change "vile bodies," but "vile body," 
which was the church : for the apostle has told us 
in other places that the church is the body of Christ ; 
and it should be farther noticed that the word ren- 
dered vile would better express the meaning of the 
original were it rendered lowly or humble body. 
Hence the passage would read thus : "For our con- 
versation is in heaven ; from whence also we look 
for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ ; who shall 



NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 193 

change our humble or lowly body that it may be 
fashioned like unto his glorious body," as seen on 
the mount of Transfiguration, without spot or wrin- 
kle ; that is, the reproach which men had heaped upon 
the church should be wholly removed, and it should 
stand forth before the world in all its glory. 

Matthew 10 : 28. And fear not them which 
kill the body but are not able to kill the soul : but 
rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul 
and body in hell. 

This text is supposed to teach very plainly the 
doctrine of a future retribution. The word "destroy" 
is not usually understood in its broadest sense ; it 
is supposed to indicate torment rather than literal 
destruction ; therefore it is maintained that the 
passage teaches that God is able to punish or inflict 
misery upon the souls and bodies of sinners in hell, 
rather than that he will positively destroy them 
there. It is very plain that the soul and body are 
to suffer in one and the same place, whatever may 
be meant by the term destroy ; and if the word hell 
represents a place of misery in the eternal world, it 
is very certain that the body must be raised from 
the dead before it can be destroyed there. There- 
fore, unless the passage be fulfilled in the immortal 
world, it yields no support to the doctrine of the 
resurrection of the material body; and there are a 
number of considerations, that preclude the possi- 
bility of its affording the least proof of such a doc- 
trine. Some of these I will now lay before the 
reader, hoping they will be satisfactory. 



194 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

The word in the text, rendered hell, is Gehenna. 
Now the question seems to be, did Christ ever rep- 
resent by this word a place of misery in the immortal 
world ? If so, in all probability, the apostles would 
afterwards have used it thus in their writings ; but 
the truth is, in all their epistles, they have never 
intimated that Gehenna is the name of a place of 
torment in the eternal world. Moreover, Christ said 
to his disciples, in the context : "What I tell you in 
darkness, that speak in light ; and what ye hear in 
the ear, that preach ye upon the house-tops." Did 
the apostles ever preach that Gehenna was located 
in the immortal world ? No, never ; so far as our 
knowledge extends, they are silent on the subject. 
The word is not found in the Acts of the apostles, 
and is used but once in all their epistolary writings. 
In this instance, it has reference to things of time 
and not of eternity, as all will doubtless admit. Hence 
one of two things must be true ; either the apostles 
did not obey the commands of Christ — did not do 
their duty, or else they did not understand him to 
mean that Gehenna was the name of a place, situated 
in eternity, where the souls and bodies of men were 
in danger of being destroyed. Here is a dilemma, 
either horn of which will prove troublesome to the 
advocates of endless misery. 

Gehenna was the name of a pleasant valley situated 
a short distance from Jerusalem. In this beautiful 
vale was erected the brazen idol, called Moloch ; upon 
which the Jews not only offered beasts and fowls, 
but their children, also. Jeremiah calls this place 



NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 195 

Tophet, because the priests beat drums to drown the 
shrieks of the children that were sacrificed by fire, 
during seasons of worship. (Jer. 7 : 31.) When king 
Josiah abolished this horrid practice, and the Jews 
had returned to the worship of God, they so detested 
this place, that they cast into it all the filth of Jerusa- 
lem, the carcasses of dead animals, and the bodies of 
criminals, who had been put to death for capital of- 
fences. The collection of animal matter was, of course, 
always covered with worms and putrefaction ; and to 
prevent the atmosphere from becoming infected, and 
thus destructive to health, a fire was continually kept 
burning to consume the offal. Therefore, in the 
process of time, all severe punishment, the death of 
criminals, and the calamities which God sent upon 
the wicked, were called Gehenna judgments. This 
is confirmed by the following language of Jeremiah : 
"Therefore, behold the day is come, saith the J^ord, 
that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley 
of the son of Hinnom, (Gehenna) but the valley of 
slaughter ; for they shall bury in Tophet till there 
be no place. And the carcasses of this people 
shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the 
beasts of the earth ; and none shall fray them away. 
Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, 
and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth ? 
and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bride- 
groom, and the voice of the bride ; for the land shall 
be desolate." Jeremiah 7: 32, 33, 34. 

That a Gehenna judgment, or the damnation of 
Gehenna, was about to be executed upon the Jewish 



196 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

nation, when the language of the text was uttered, is 
evident from the following declaration of Christ : 
" Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye 
are the children of them which killed the prophets. 
Fill ye up, then, the measure of your fathers. Ye 
serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape 
the damnation of hell? (Gehenna.) Wherefore, behold 
I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes; 
and some of them shall ye scourge in your syna- 
gogues, and persecute from city to city : that upon 
you moy come all the righteous blood shed upon the 
earth, from the blood of righteous Abel, unto the 
blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew 
between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto 
you, all these things shall come upon this generation. 
Behold your house is left unto you desolate." Matt. 
23: 31 — 38. The men of the generation then 
living were to experience this damnation of Gehenna. 
It was to come upon them, as we learn from the next 
chapter, when Christ should make his second appear- 
ance. At that time, war, pestilence, and famine, 
would make desolate the land of Judah. In Matthew, 
the tenth chapter, we learn that Christ's second 
coming was not very far distant when he uttered the 
language of the text. He says to his disciples, after 
commanding them to go and preach to the lost sheep 
of the house of Israel : " And ye shall be hated of 
all men for my name sake : but he that endureth to 
the end shall be saved. But when they persecute you 
in this city, flee ye into another ; for verily I say unto 
you, ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel 



JNEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 197 

till the Son of man become." This settles the matter 
as to time. " But he that endureth to the end shall 
be saved." Saved from what? Why, from the Ge- 
henna destruction that was to come upon the Jewish 
nation, before the disciples had gone over the cities of 
Israel. Hence it is plain, that the design of Christ, in 
this tenth chapter of Matthew, was to point out to 
his disciples the difficulties they would have to en- 
counter, while pursuing the object of their ministry — 
to encourage them to be faithful — to warn them 
against apostacy — to exhibit to them the means by 
which they could avoid many evils — and to show 
them the consequence of disobedience to his com- 
mands. Let us look at these items a moment. The 
disciples were commanded by Christ to go forth and 
preach to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, "Say- 
ing the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Then they 
were given to understand that they were going among 
enemies, who were cruel as devouring wolves, and 
who would maliciously bring them before governors 
and kings, accusing them of evil in the most bitter 
spirit of hatred. To escape this as much as possible, 
they were commanded to " be wise as serpents and 
harmless as doves/' Finally they were exhorted not 
to fear their adversaries, but to speak what they had 
learned, in the most prominent places and in the 
plainest manner ; for God, who takes notice of the 
sparrow, and provides it with all necessary good, 
would sustain them, provide for their wants, and 
bring them off more than conquerors. But if they 
were so fearful of their persecutors as to prove recreant, 



198 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

if they should succumb to the enemies of their Mas- 
ter, and renounce him before the world, God would 
certainly destroy them with their Jewish brethren, 
who were then standing upon the very brink of ruin. 
" Fear them not, therefore," says the Master, " for 
they can only kill the body ; " but rather fear God 
who is able to bring upon you judgments that will 
destroy both soul and body. 

In what sense would God destroy the souls and 
bodies of apostate disciples ? Before answering this 
question, it is necessary to make a remark or two 
on the word rendered soul in the text. This 
word, without doubt, in the New Testament, often 
signifies life ; but there are a number of instances 
where it seems to be synonymous with soul or mind. 
In the following, to my understanding, it means 
something more than animal life. Matt. 12 : 18, " In 
whom my soul is well pleased." 22: 27, " Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and 
with all thy soul" Acts 14 : 32, " Were of one 
heart and one soul." 14 : 2, " Made their minds 
evil-affected against the brethren." 14 : 22, " Con- 
firming the souls of the disciples." Eph. 6: 6, 
" Doing the will of God from the heart." Phil. 1 : 
27, " Stand fast in one spirit, with one mind." Ueb. 
4: 19, "which hope we have as an anchor to the soul" 
Matt. 11 : 29, " Learn of me: for I am meek and 
lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls." 
Christ did not mean by this, that he would give rest 
to the bodies of those that came to him, or to their 
animal life ; but he meant that he would give rest to 



NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 199 

their weary, troubled spirits. The apostle, obviously, 
did not design to say that a Gospel hope was an an- 
chor to the bodies of men ; but we understand him 
to mean that the hope of the Gospel is an anchor 
to the soul. Neither do we understand Christ to 
say in the text that God would destroy merely the 
lives and bodies of apostate disciples, but that he 
would destroy both their souls and bodies in hell. In 
what sense would he destroy their souls? Nearly in 
the same sense that he would destroy their bodies. In 
what sense would he destroy their bodies ? In the 
same sense that men were able to destroy their bodies. 
Were men able to annihilate the body ? No ; they 
could only destroy the life of the body. They had 
no power to strike the body out of existence. They 
had power to destroy the life of the body, but the 
soul they could not injure. Therefore the disciples 
were exhorted not to fear men. They were told to 
fear God, who was able to destroy the life, both of 
the soul and the body ; and this he would do when 
the impending judgments fell upon their enemies, 
if they thought to save themselves from the martyr's 
fate, by abandoning the work their Master had given 
them to do. It should be remembered that Jesus was 
about sending his disciples out to preach the Gospel 
of the kingdom, when he uttered the language of the 
passage under consideration. He informed them that 
they would be persecuted and arraigned before mag- 
istrates, where their lives would be in peril ; but he 
tells them not to fear, not to be anxious or thoughtful 
about what they should say ; for the spirit of God 



200 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

would be in them and enable them to speak as the 
case might demand. Moreover, Christ promised his 
discipks that they should receive strength and support 
in their trials, which should enable them to triumph 
over all ; and according to this promise, they received 
the comforter, or spirit of truth, which communicated 
such a life and energy to their souls as to enable them 
to meet persecution and death with calmness and joy. 
Hence they could understand and appreciate Christ's 
meaning, when he said, " If a man keep my saying, 
he shall never see death ;" and "whosoever liveth and 
believeth in me, shall never die." Of course, it is 
not meant that such should not die a natural death, 
but that death should have no power over their souls. 
There grew up within them a life-sustaining power. 
St. Paul represents that those who were filled with 
the spirit could look upon all outward calamity and 
affliction as mere trifles — as having no power to 
disturb their happiness. On this account, he affirms 
that nothing should induce him to abandon the cause 
of Christ. He asks, "Who shall separate us from the 
love of Christ ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or per- 
secution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? 
(As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day 
long ; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.) 
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, 
through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that 
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, 
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 
nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall 
be able to separate us from the love of God which is 



NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 201 

in Christ Jesus our Lord." " In this language," says 
Dr. Clark, "the apostle is referring to the persecutions 
and tribulations to which genuine Christians were ex- 
posed, through their attachment to Christ, and the 
gracious provision God had made for their support 
and final salvation. As in this provision, God had 
shown his infinite love to them in providing Jesus 
Christ, as their sin-offering ; and Jesus Christ had 
shown his love in suffering death upon the cross for 
them ; so here he speaks of the love of followers of 
God, to that Christ who had first loved them. There- 
fore, the question is not, who shall separate the love of 
Christ from us ? or prevent Christ from loving us ? but 
the apostle asks, who shall separate us from the love of 
Christ ? Who or what shall induce us to apostatize ? 
And the answer is — nothing ; neither tribulation, nor 
persecution, nor death, shall induce us to abandon 
Christ ; for his truth has communicated a glory and 
life to our souls, which enables us to triumph over all 
adversity. This sustaining spirit was necessary to 
sustain the life of the soul ; and whenever it should 
be taken away, of course, the soul would die. Its 
elements would not die or become extinct, but simply 
its power to live calmly and peacefully, in the midst of 
the severest outward inflictions, would be destroyed. 
Here, then, is the conclusion of the whole matter. 
Christ, in the tenth chapter of Matthew, labors to 
impress the fact upon the minds of his disciples, that 
if they renounced his cuse through fear of their 
adversaries, and should attempt to save their lives 
by agreeing with them, God would certainly involve 



202 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

them in the Gehenna destruction, that was about to 
fall upon the Jews, and would also deprive them of 
the life-giving power which obedience to his com- 
mands communicates to the soul, and which would 
enable all the faithful to stand up with fortitude 
against all outward calamity and persecution, and to 
rejoice even in death. 

The Gospel is said to be the bread and water of 
life ; but it is not that bread and water which sustains 
the life of the body. It is the nutriment which sus- 
tains the life of the soul, and arms it against all out- 
ward inflictions. Ever since the days of the apostles, 
therefore, men have felt that the Gospel contains a life- 
giving power. Many have felt that the soul, imbued 
with the spirit of Christ, is mightier than all the ele- 
ments of outward evil. Says Dr. Channing, " I have 
read of holy men, who, in days of persecution, have 
been led to the stake to pay the penalty of their up- 
rightness, not in fierce and suddenly destroying flames, 
but in slow fire ; and though one retracting word 
would have snatched them from death, they have 
chosen to be burned ; and amidst the protracting ag- 
onies of limb burning after limb, they sought forgive- 
ness for their enemies. What then are outward fires 
to the celestial flame within us ? And I do not feel 
as if God had ceased to love, as if man were forsaken 
of his Creator, because his body is scattered into 
ashes by fire. It would seem as if God intended to 
disarm the most terrible events of their power to dis- 
turb our faith, by making them the occasions of the 
sublimest virtues. In shipwrecks, we are furni&hed 



NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 203 

with some of the most remarkable examples, that his- 
tory affords, of trust in God, of unconquerable energy, 
and of tender, self-sacrificing love, making the de- 
vouring ocean the most glorious spot on earth. A 
friend, rescued from a wreck, told me that a company 
of pious Christians, who had been left in the sinking 
ship, were heard, from the boat in which he had 
found safety, lifting up their voices, not in shrieks or 
moans, but in a hymn to God, — thus awaiting, in a 
serene act of piety, the last, swift approaching hour. 
How much grander was that hymn than the ocean's 
roar! And what becomes of suffering when thus 
awakening into an energy, otherwise unknown, the 
highest sentiment of the soul ?" Then persecution is 
nothing, death is nothing. But otherwise death is 
fearfully terrible ; and well might Christ warn his 
disciples to be faithful, when he knew that if they 
were not, God would destroy the life of the soul, 
and then send upon them the judgments of Gehenna. 

Matthew 5 : 29, 30. And if thy right eye offend 
thee pluck it out and cast it from thee ; for it is profi- 
table for thee that one of thy members should perish, 
and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. 
And if thy right hand offend thee cut it off and cast 
it from thee ; for it is profitable for thee that one of 
thy members should perish and not that thy whole 
body should be cast into hell. 

The parallel or corresponding passages, are found 
in Matt. 18 : 8, 9, and Mark 9 : 43 — 48. If these 
passages refer to the future state at all, it is very cer- 
tain that the body and the bodily organs will be raised 



204 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

from the dead and exist there. But all will, doubt- 
less, admit that the passages referred to, and the one 
we have quoted, correspond — that they are all of 
the same import, and set forth the same thing. It is 
also plain that the word " life " and the phrase " king- 
dom of God " are synonymous, and that the word 
perish, as used in this pnssage, only implies a nega- 
tion of life. Hence we may remark, that these pas- 
sages of Scripture are supposed to constitute a very 
strong proof of the endless suffering of some of the 
human family. But I am at a loss to know how any 
such sentiment could ever have gained credence 
among men ; especially, if the passage, when under- 
stood, is adduced as the strongest evidence of its 
truth. If we give it a literal interpretation, a most 
palpable absurdity is involved. For if the word life, 
as found in some of the passages referred to, means a 
place of felicity in the immortal world, and hell a place 
of misery there, then those who die with an offending 
hand, foot, or eye, will go to hell, sound in their bodily 
organs ; while, on the other hand, those who disen- 
cumber themselves of offending members will go to 
heaven with one hand, one eye, or one foot. To sup- 
pose the inhabitants of heaven to be thus mutilated, 
having but one eye, one hand, or one foot, is an idea 
which the common sense of most men would reject as 
absurd. Moreover, the question forces itself upon the 
mind, if the unoffending body goes to heaven because 
of its inoffensiveness, why not send the offending 
members to hell because of their offence ? And 
again, why send the whole body to hell because the 



NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 205 

hand or foot has offended ? Why not send that part 
of the body, which has not given offence, to heaven, 
and that part to hell, which has ? This would be a 
very strange doctrine to advocate. It would be very 
preposterous to teach that the bodies of men enjoy 
the felicity of heaven, while their eyes, hands, or feet, 
suffer the pains of hell. Yet this is a legitimate con- 
clusion from the premises that the passage is to be 
construed literally, and as referring to the eternal 
world. I suppose, however, it will now be admitted 
that it is not to be understood literally, but allegorical- 
ly, or metaphorically. By the hand, foot, and eye, 
we are to understand something besides the literal 
hand, eye, &c. These are only the materials by 
which something else is represented ; and so of the 
whole passage ; it is all to be understood metaphori- 
cally. It is not lawful to explain one part of a para- 
ble literally, and another part metaphorically. Yet in 
order to draw the doctrine of endless misery from 
the passages before us, this course has been pursued. 
Theologians have been unanimous in explaining them 
metaphorically, till they have come to the last part, or 
to the word hell. Here, they drop the metaphor and 
lay hold of the literal — making of hell a real locality 
in the immortal world, where the bodies of men are 
to be tormented with a literal fire. This is mingling 
the literal with the figurative in the most unwarranta- 
ble manner. Besides, there is no possible evidence 
that Christ had reference to the spirit-world when he 
uttered the language of the passage at the head of 
this chapter,and its parallels ; but the language of them 

10 



206 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

all shows that he alludes to things of time. He evi- 
dently drew his figures from Jewish institutions, and 
almost borrows the language which the prophets had 
previously employed in describing things that existed 
and events that were to transpire in this world. In 
Jeremiah 7:31, and Isaiah 66 : 23, we find the fol- 
lowing : " And they have built the high places of 
Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, 
(Gehenna, the word rendered hell in the text,) to burn 
their sons and their daughters in the fire ; which I 
commanded them not, neither came it into my heart. 
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, 
that it shall no more be called Tophet, aor the valley 
of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter ; 
for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place. 
And the carcasses of this people shall be meat for the 
fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth ; 
and none shall fray them away.' 5 " And it shall come 
to pass that from one new moon to another, and from 
one Sabbath to another, that all flesh shall come to 
worship before me, saith the Lord. And they shall 
go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that 
have transgressed against me ; for their worm shall 
not die, neither shall their fire be quenched ; and they 
shall be an abhorring unto all flesh." How very sim- 
ilar to this is the language of Christ, when he says 
u It is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than, 
Laving two hands, or two feet, to be cast into hell, 
(Gehenna, or the valley of the son of Hinnom,) where 
the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched*" 
The metaphor was drawn from the fact that a 



NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 207 

diseased limb is liable to infect the whole body, and 
finally to cause its death, or cause it to perish. To 
prevent this catastrophe, men were obliged to suffer 
the loss of the diseased member; and though the 
offending organs were as essential and valuable as an 
eye, an arm, or a foot, the privation had better be 
suffered than that the whole body should become 
loathsome and, on their account, perish and be cast 
into hell. (Gehenna.) This is the literal import of 
the passage, but we are not to understand it literally. 
It figures forth something else. And all will agree, 
I think, that by cutting off the hand or foot, or by 
plucking out the eye, we are to understand the Sa- 
viour as meaning that it is profitable to deprive our- 
selves of every thing, however dear and valuable in our 
sight, if calculated to entangle us in sinful practices, 
lest our whole moral system should become corrupt, 
loathsome and detestable, as the carcass of a crim- 
inal, thrown into Gehenna, the receptacle of filth and 
putrefaction. To a Jew nothing could be more hor- 
rible ; hence the metaphor was filly drawn and appro- 
priately applied. 

Matthew 27: 50 — 53. Jesus, when he had 
cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 
And behold the veil of the temple was rent in twain, 
from the top to the bottom ; and the earth did quake 
and the rocks rent ; and the graves were opened ; and 
many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and 
came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went 
into the holy city and appeared unto many. 

This is a very remarkable passage, and at first 



208 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

glance would seem to yield some evidence of the res- 
urrection of the material body ; but closer observation 
must certainly convince any one, that little or no con- 
fidence can be placed in any hypothesis based upon 
it. Look at the peculiar structure of the passage and 
the phraseology employed in it : "Jesus, when he 
had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the 
ghost. And behold the veil of the temple was rent 
in twain from the top to the bottom ; and the earth 
quaked, and the rocks rent ; and the graves opened ; 
and many bodies of the saints arose, and came out 
of their graves after his resurrection, and went into 
the holy city, (Jerusalem) and appeared unto many." 
Here it must be seen, that, though the graves were 
opened at the time Christ gave up the ghost, "and 
many bodies of the saints which slept arose," they 
did not come out of their graves and go into Jerusa- 
lem till after his resurrection, three days after they 
awoke. We a*e not told positively by the evangelist 
or any one else, whether they sat or stood upright in 
their graves during the three days that Christ was in 
the tomb, nor whether the saints themselves or their 
bodies went into the holy city. The inference, how- 
ever, from our English version, is in favor of the idea 
that their bodies rose up from their sleeping postures, 
at the time of the crucifixion, and remained in their 
dark abode till after [Christ's resurrection, when 
they left them and went into the holy city. But 
where were the saints all this time? and what was the 
object of the mission of their bodies to the city of 
Jerusalem ? ^d to wham . did Jthey appear? What 



NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 209 

become of these bodies after they appeared to many 
in the holy city ? Did they then ascend to heaven, 
or did they go back to their graves and lay down in 
the places they formerly occupied, or did they ulti- 
mately find new tombs? Did they give any information 
concerning the spirit-world? or the time and process of 
the resurrection ? Is it any where said in the Bible, 
that these bodies were brought out of their graves to 
show that the bodies of all men would be raised from 
the dead at some future period ? We have no means 
of answering these questions in the affirmative. A 
thick cloud of mystery envelopes them. This is pass- 
ing strange ; for, certainly, if the events mentioned 
in the passage were designed to cast any light on the 
mode of man's future or immortal existence, they 
would not have been left so much obscured. The 
apostles have not referred to it in any of their writings; 
and Matthew is the only evangelist that records it. It 
is astonishing that events so astounding in their nature 
should be passed over so lightly and with so few ob- 
servations, if they actually occurred according to the 
popular interpretation. One would naturally think 
that if this passage was intended to shed any light 
upon the doctrine of the resurrection, or would assist 
in explaining or defending the doctrine, they would 
have given it a prominent place in their teachings; 
and if the bodies of dead men were really re-animated 
and marched forth from their resting places, and 
exhibited themselves to many in Jerusalem, it is to 
be supposed the disciples would have seized upon 
the fact, and employed it as an invaluable argument 



210 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

for the Messiahship of Christ. But this they have 
never done. And this should admonish us not to press 
the passage into the service of any theory. It should 
be consistently explained before it is adduced as proof 
of any doctrine ; but this will be a hard task, I fancy, 
and I know of no way of accomplishing it unless the 
following suggestion be correct. 

The word translated arose may be defined thus :— 
to rise up from a state of recumbency or prostration, 
to be put in motion, to arouse, to stir up or excite, to be 
agitated, to revive from death, to leave the grave. It 
has indeed other definitions ; but these seem to be best 
suited to the circumstances connected with the use of 
the word. It is not, taking these circumstances into 
consideration, necessary to suppose that the bodies* 
mentioned in the passage, actually revived from death 
or left their graves. Or, at least, there is nothing in 
the word arose that necessarily requires this supposi- 
tion ; on the contrary, the circumstances of the case 
rather go to show that those bodies were only agitated 
or put in motion. For it is said that the " earth did 
quake, and the rocks rent, and the graves were open- 
ed, and many bodies of the saints arose." Here it 
is as obvious as need be, that the rising or the com- 
motion of the bodies was in close connection with the 
earthquake ; and it is not strange at all, that during 
a convulsion which rent the solid rocks asunder and 
shook the earth to its very centre, round about the 
holy city, the sepulchres in the vicinity of Jerusalem 
should be forced open, and that bodies of saints as 
well as others should be disturbed, and some of these 



NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 21 L 

should be thrown into a sitting posture, and others 
cast out of their resting places, and made to stand 
almost erect against the wall ; while others, being cast 
from their niches on the sides of their dark dwelling, 
lay in confused masses below. 

As the passage reads, it may be asked whether 
these bodies did not go forth from their graves and 
appear to many in Jerusalem after Christ's resurrec- 
tion ? It is not certain that they did ; on the contrary 
there is a strong presumption against it. This will 
be apparent, if we consider that that part of the pas- 
sage which we are now noticing, were it literally ren- 
dered, would read thus: "And the graves were 
opened, and many bodies of saints which slept arose, 
and having come forth from their graves after his 
resurrection, they entered into the holy city and ap- 
peared unto many." Let it now be particularly ob- 
served that the word somata, rendered bodies, is in 
the neuter gender, while the participle, exelthontes, 
referring to the saints, is in the masculine. Why did 
the evangelist change the gender if he meant to be 
understood that those bodies were to be re-animated 
with life, aud really appeared to many in the city of 
Jerusalem ? " Why do we not read, exelthonta in- 
stead of exelthontes ? These are points of very dif- 
ficult solution, though liable to be overlooked by the 
mere reader of the English translation, which does 
not, because it could not, present the nicer shades of 
the original." # 

That the " bodies " did not leave their graves and 

* Bush on the Resurrection, p. 212, 



212 AN EXAMINATION Of THE 

go into the holy city, three days after they were 
brought to life, and there exhibit themselves, so as to 
be visible to the mortal eyes of many individuals, is 
further evident from the general meaning of the word 
translated appeared. This term properly implies the 
manifestation of a spiritual being, whether angel or 
departed spirit. For example, an angel appeared to 
Joseph, in a vision or dream, and warned him to flee 
into Egypt with his family. Matt. 2 : 13. Hence we 
may legitimately infer that many of the saints,who had 
been wickedly put to death, appeared in vision, after 
it was known that Christ had arisen, to those whose 
hands were still red with their blood and whose 
minds were fearfully agitated by the events connected 
with the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. We 
can easily imagine that these saints stood before the 
mental vision of their murderers, and shook at them 
their gory locks, till they were forced, as it were, to 

exclaim with guilty Macbeth, 

- _ 

" Blood hath been shed ere now, in the olden time 
Ere human statute purged the gentle weal ; 
Ay, and since too, murders have been performed 
Too terrible for the ear: the times have been 
That, when the brains were out, the man would die 
And there an end : but now they rise again, 
With twenty mortal murders on their crowns, 
And push us from our stools/' 

It is not strange that men, who had participated in 
scenes of violence and blood, who had persecuted 
and put to death the prophets and wise men that were 
sent by God to teach them truth and righteousness, 
and finally filled up their cup of iniquity by putting 
to death the Prince of life and glory ; it is not strange 



JSEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 2 I 5 

him to refer to the resurrection, which she believed 
would take place in the days of the Messiah. Jesus 
immediately goes on to correct this false sentiment, by 
saying, I am the resurrection and the life : he that be- 
lieveth in me, though he were dead, vet shall he live: and 
whosoever liveth andbelieveth in me, shall never die. 
Believest thou this ? The sense of which is this : 
Martha, call home your anxious and curious thoughts, 
and trust in me. You believe there will be a resur- 
rection or renewal of life in the days of the Messiah ; 
I am the Messiah ; you desire that your brother may 
be immediately restored to life; but be content with 
this, — " I am the resurrection ; " all that you are to 
expect of the resurrection or return to life, and the 
glory and happiness connected with it, is contained, 
completed, fulfilled in me. Understand me, I do not 
now speak of a return to being in some future time, 
but I mean that he who lives and believes in me shall 
never die. Already he has begun to live immortality 
by faith. The body only is subject to death ; the 
soul does not die. It may, indeed, by sin and unbe- 
lief, be shrouded in the shadows of death, and feel 
the chilly influence of the pale king, but its essence 
is, in its very nature, immortal ; and it contains in 
itself the elements of undecaying felicity. Do you 
feel and believe this as you ought, Martha ? If so 
you ought not to be so anxious and sorrowful about 
your brother. Had you attended to my instructions 
on this subject as you ought, you would now be full of 
consolation and hope. 

" If this view of the subject be not correct, then 



216 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

does Christ employ language strange and inexplicable. 
Martha tells him that she has not a doubt that her 
brother will rise at the last day ; and he, admitting and 
approving the sentiment, replies, <I am the resurrec- 
tion and the life,' intimating, on this construction, 
that what she said was very true, that at the last day 
he should raise her brother to an immortal life. He 
then proceeds, advancing in some way upon what he 
had just said, and informs her that all the dead shall 
live again, and that no living person shall die forever. 
But upon this view of the passage, what has he said 
but what Martha had already told him that she knew? 
For surely if she knew that Lazarus should rise again 
at the last day, she must, upon the same grounds, have 
known that all the dead would also arise at the last 
day, and that no living person would die forever. 
This view of the subject seems, in fact, to be preclud- 
ed by the question which Christ immediately proposes, 
Believest thou this ? Can we suppose he would spend 
so many words to tell Martha what she already knew? 
and then, after all, ask her whether she believed 
this ? " * 

Acts 2 : 34. For David is not ascended into the 
heavens. 

What did the apostle mean by this language ? Did 
he intend to say that David had not been raised 
from the dead, and was consequently destitute of a 
conscious existence ? Whatever he may have meant, 
it has been supposed that his language constitutes a 
strong proof of a simultaneous resurrection, and that 

* Bush on the Resurrection, p. 2i7. 



NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 213 

that such, after witnessing the fearful convulsions of 
nature which were manifest at Christ's crucifixion, and 
seeing the tombs of those whom they had murdered 
forced open, and viewing the agitation of their ghastly 
corpses, — should, after hearing of the resurrection of 
their last victim, be troubled with thick coming ter- 
rors, and see in mental view the souls of all they had 
murdered threatening vengeance on their guilty heads. 

John 11 : 23,24. Jesus saith unto her, thy brother 
shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that 
he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 

It is not needful to speak particularly of the circum- 
stances which called forth this language. They ought 
to be familiar to every one ; and if any have not be- 
come acquainted with them, they can very easily, by 
turning to the place where they are recorded. The 
question to be considered is, did Martha have a simul- 
taneous resurrection in view, which she believed would 
take place at the end of time, when she said, " I 
know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at 
the last day ? " We have not the slightest evidence 
that she did ; on the contrary, we have seen in a pre- 
vious chapter, that in the Scriptures the phrase " last 
day " is equivalent in meaning, to the Gospel day, 
the times of the Messiah, the reign of Christ in his 
kingdom. The last day was understood, at the time 
Christ made his appearance on earth, to mean the 
same as the reign of the Messiah, And, doubtless, 
Martha's views of the Messianic kingdom were such 
as prevailed among her countrymen. These views 
were erroneous. According to them, Christ's reign 

10* 



214 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

was to be temporal, the earth was to be cleansed and 
some part of it changed to a sort of Eden or Para- 
dise, the dead were to be raised to life and once more 
dwell in it. 

In commenting on John 6 : 31, Mr. Paige quotes 
the following from Lightfoot : " Many affirm that the 
hope of Israel is, that Messiah shall come and raise 
the dead, and they shall be gathered together in the 
garden of Eden, and shall eat and drink, and satiate 
themselves all the days of the world ; and that there 
are houses built of all precious stones, beds of silk, 
and rivers flowing with wine and spicy oil." Again, 
" They looked, as hath been already said, for the res- 
urrection of the dead, at the coming of the Mes- 
siah." Take one instance : "R. Jeremiah said, when 
I die, bury me in my shirt, and with my shoes on, &c, 
that when Messiah comes, I may be ready dressed to 
meet him." Much more might be added to this tes- 
timony of Lightfoot, but this is sufficient to prove that 
the Jews believed that a resurrection would take place 
at the coming of the Messiah. This, without the 
least doubt, was Martha's opinion ; but did Christ 
sanction it ? If he did, he sanctioned a falsehood, for 
no such thing has yet occurred. If we carefully ex- 
amine his conversation with Martha, we shall see that 
he did not countenance her views, but that, on the 
other hand, he corrected them in language well suited 
to the sad events which had brought him to Bethany. 
He did not dispute with her rudely, but mildly said, 
" Thy brother shall rise again." That is, he shall re- 
turn again to mortal life. In this she understands 



NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 219 

verse, confirms this idea by saying, " Christ, who is 
gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God ■ 
angels, and authorities, and powers, being made sub- 
ject unto him." From this we learn that heaven 
was henceforth to be his throne, from which the af- 
fairs of his kingdom were to be administered, till all 
were brought into harmony with the principles of his 
government. 

Again : Peter has language recorded in Acts 3: 
19 — 21, which expresses the same idea, and which 
may, according to good authority, be paraphrased 
thus : l: Repent, ye, therefore, and be converted, 
that your sins may be blotted out ; so that the times 
of refreshing of the Gospel may come upon you 
from the presence of the Lord ; and he may send 
Jesus Christ in the preaching of the Gospel to 
you; who will occupy the heavens, or the high 
places of mediatorial power, during the times of the 
restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by 
the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world 
began." # 

Thus has God "raised Christ from the dead and 
sat him at his own right hand, in the heavenly 
places, far above all principality, and power, and 
might, and dominion, and every name that is named, 
not only in this world, but also in that which is to 
come ; and hath put all things under his feet, and 
gave him to be head over all things to the church, 
which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth 
all in all." Ephesians 1 : 20 — 23. In view of this, 

# Dr. Lightfoot 



220 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

Peter could say with propriety, that David had not 
yet ascended into the heavens, or had not been ex- 
alted to such a high place of authority and power, 
from which he would exercise the function of 
his government. David was a great king no doubt; 
but in view of the exaltation which Christ was to 
receive, he could without humility acknowledge 
himself vastly inferior. 



NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 217 

all others will remain, after they die, with David, in 
an unconscious or unraised state, till the great rising 
day, called the general resurrection. But to come to 
a right understanding of the apostle, we must for a 
moment glance at the context. We must remember 
that he uttered this passage on the day of Pentecost, 
when thousands were made to see that Christ was the 
true Messiah, and that the object of his mission was 
very different from what they had supposed. 

Christ had been rejected and put to death as an 
impostor, because he did not answer the popular ideas 
of the Messiah. The general expectation was, that 
he would be a mighty conqueror, a wise sovereign, 
and a magnificent prince ; that he w r ould deliver Israel 
from foreign oppression, extend his dominion over all 
the nations of the earth, and seat himself firmly on 
the ancient throne of David, from which would pro- 
ceed, ever after, the laws that should govern the 
world; and as he did not meet this expectation, he was 
rejected in spite of all the wonders wrought by his 

hand. 

On the day of Pentecost, Peter reasoned with 

the people, and out of the Scriptures proved that 
Christ was the true Messiah, though they had not 
received him as such. He pointed them to his resur- 
rection, and showed from the Psalms that David had 
spoken of this very event. He says, " For David 
speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always 
before my face; for he is on my right hand that I 
should not be moved: therefore did my heart rejoice, 
and my tongue was glad ; moreover, also, my flesh 



218 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

shall rest in hope : because thou wilt not leave my 
soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to 
see corruption." 

Again : All the people considered that David had 
been a great king. Peter took advantage of this fact, 
and produced David's own testimony, that Christ 
would be a sovereign prince, vastly superior to himself. 
"Men and brethren," said the apostle, " let me freely 
speak unto you of the patriarch David that he is both 
dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto 
this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing 
that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the 
fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise 
up Christ to sit on his throne, he, seeing this before, 
spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was 
not left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption. 
This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are 
witnesses. Therefore, being by the right hand of God 
exalted, and having received of the Father the promise 
of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye 
now see and hear." 

Here take particular notice of the expression, "being 
by the right hand of God exalted." Does this not 
have direct reference to the words of the Psalmist, — 
" Sit thou at my right hand, till I have made thine en- 
emies thy footstool? Ps. 110: 1. And does this not 
plainly imply that David expected that Christ would 
be exalted to a place of regal power in the Messianic 
kingdom, where he would reign till all his enemies 
should be made subject to his authority ? Peter, in 
his first epistle, third chapter, and twenty-second 



CHAPTER X. 

THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 

There has been a disposition among theologians 
to connect the resurrection of the material body with 
the immortality of man, as though the latter was in 
some way dependent upon the former ; and to such 
an extent has this idea prevailed that the resurrec- 
tion of Christ's body is supposed to afford irrefraga- 
ble evidence of the resurrection of the bodies of all 
men. Many of those who do not believe in the res- 
urrection of the material body, admit that if Christ's 
body was really raised from the dead, it would 
necessarily follow that the bodies of all men will be 
raised ; and to avoid this conclusion they attempt to 
prove that the body of Christ was never raised. 
Professor Bush, in his late work on the resurrection, 
has a long chapter on the resurrection of Christ, in 
which he labors hard to show that he did not assume 
his material body when he left the tomb. But 
Christ says to his disciples, "Behold my hands and 
my feet, that it is I myself; handle me and see ; for 
a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have." 
What stronger or plainer language than this could 
Christ have employed to give his disciples to under- 
stand, that the body which they saw and handled 



222 THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 

was the very same that had been taken down from 
the cross and laid in the tomb ? And were it not 
the same, did he not deceive them ? Did he not tell 
them what was not true, when he gave them to 
understand that the body, which they then were 
examining, was the one which he wore when he was 
crucified ? I can see no way of avoiding this con- 
clusion ; and if he deceived them in this particular, 
how do we know but that he has in many others ? 

Unless Christ's body was raised from the dead his 
prophecies in relation to his own resurrection were 
false. We read, — "Then answered the Jews, and 
said unto him, what sign shewest thou unto us, see- 
ing that thou doest these things ? Jesus answered 
and said unto them, destroy this temple, and in three 
days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, forty 
and six years was this temple in building, and wilt 
thou rear it up in three days ? But he spake of the 
temple of his body." John 2: 18, 19, 20, 21. 
This prediction of his resurrection is so clear and 
direct that it cannot be mistaken. Destroy this tem- 
ple, he says — meaning his body — and in three days 1 
will raise it vp. The disciples understood by this 
language that he would raise up his material body; 
for "when therefore he was risen from the dead, his 
disciples remembered that he had said this unto 
them ; and they believed the scripture, and the word 
which Jesus had said." John 2: 22. Here it is 
very obvious that if Christ's body was not raised, he 
was a false prophet. 

It will be recollected that Thomas was very seep- 



THE RESURRECT10JN OF CHRIST. 223 

tical in relation to the resurrection of Christ. He 
said he would not believe unless he could examine 
the hands of his master, and put his finger into the 
print of the nails and thrust his hand into his side. 
Thomas, eight days after he had uttered this deci- 
sive language, had an interview with Jesus, who said 
to him, " Reach hither thy finger, and behold my 
hands ; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into 
my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And 
Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord, and 
my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because 
thou hast hast seen me, thou hast believed : blessed 
are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. " 
St. John 20: 27, 28, 29. This was sufficient for 
Thomas; he believed. Hence Christ's body was 
raised from the dead, else he was most grossly de- 
ceived — miraculously deceived by his masrer. 

Professor Bush very coolly admits that the disci- 
ples were deceived — that they believed in the bodily 
resurrection of Christ — an event which never occur- 
red. If they were thus deceived, then was their faith 
based upon a stupendous falsehood, and so was the 
faith of all who followed their instruction. Not- 
withstanding all this, many of the Professor's Swe- 
denborgian brethren devote much labor, and often 
whole sermons, to the work of showing that Christ's 
body was dispersed into its native elements before or 
at the time he left the tomb, and that consequently 
the body which his disciples saw, was not the body 
which was crucified, but a spiritual body — a body 
which was prepared for immortality and a pattern 



224 THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 

of the bodies which men will receive at their resur- 
rection. It is easy to understand why this ground 
is taken ; they do not believe in the resurrection of 
the* material body ; and the impression seems to be 
general, that if Christ assumed, at his resurrection, 
the body which was nailed to the cross, it ascended 
with him to immortality, and is indubitable evidence 
that the bodies of all men will be raised to immor- 
tality also. But why any one should so think I know 
not. If we admit, that Christ exhibited to his dis- 
ciples, after his resurrection, the same body in which 
he was crucified, it by no means follows that this 
body would go with him into the immortal world. 
It could be as easily dispersed into its primary ele- 
ments at his ascension as at his resurrection ; and he 
could receive a spiritual body, as well at the former 
event as at the latter. And I know of no rational 
argument or passage of Scripture, which, if rightly 
interpreted, teaches that the body which Christ ex- 
hibited to his disciples, after he left the tomb, was a 
pattern of the bodies which all men shall receive at 
their resurrection from the dead. The divine testi- 
mony seems to point us rather to his appearance on 
the mount of Transfiguration, as a representation of 
what the resurrection bodies of all men will be. 
That the object of Christ's resurrection was not to 
prove that any human body would be raised from 
the dead is evident from many considerations. It 
seems almost impossible that any one could regard 
it as proof of such a doctrine. To whom could it 
be proof? It could be no evidence to unbelieving 



THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 225 

Jews and Gentiles of the resurrection of their bod- 
ies. They did not believe in his resurrection at all. 
They demanded the most conclusive evidence of the 
fact before they would believe any thing about it ; 
and when it was given them, what was there in the 
event that indicated that any other human body 
would ever be raised from the narrow house. Be- 
cause the body of an individual had been roused 
from the sleep of death, whom God had clothed 
with wisdom and power, such as no man had pre- 
viously possessed, could it reasonably be alleged 
that the body of any other man will be, who has 
never been distinguished among his fellows ? Who 
can be so unphilosophical and irrational, as to 
infer, because one body has been, by divine energy, 
restored to life on the morning of the third day after 
it had been deserted by the spirit, that all human 
bodies, after they have been dead thousands of years, 
will be raised to immortality ? Or, who so weak 
as to contend, because one body was re-occupied, 
after three days' desertion by the spirit, that all oth- 
ers must be, centuries after they have been mingled 
with the dust ? Why not infer, because Christ 
arose on the third day after his crucifixion, that the 
bodies of those who have died since have been 
raised in three days after their death ? 

Why does the resurrection of Christ's body afford 
any more evidence of the resurrection of all human 
bodies, than does the resurrection of the body of the 
Shunamite's child by the power of God, operating 
through JElisha the prophet ? Certainly there is no 



226 THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST, 

more analogy between the two cases, than there is 
between the resurrection of all bodies and the return 
to life of the dead body which touched the bones of 
the Prophet just mentioned, after they had been laid 
away to rest in the tomb ? 

m 

But it was not the object or end of Christ's resur- 
rection to prove that all or any human bodies would 
be raised to life after they had suffered death. What 
then was it& object, or its objects ? There were 
doubtless two things to be accomplished in the divine 
economy by the resurrection of Christ. The direct 
and immediate object was to prove the divinity of 
his mission, — the ultimate object a moral one. 

The immediate purpose of Christ's resurrection 
was, to establish the divinity of his mission, — to 
show that God had commissioned and sent him to 
be a prophet, a teacher, a saviour, — to prove that he 
was the Christ whom God had promised to send into 
the world. 

Jesus of Nazareth, though an obscure individual, 
whose native village was infamous in the eyes of 
most of his countrymen, and out of which they 
believed that no prophet could come, went forth 
claiming to be divinely appointed and sent, and mi- 
raculously endowed to promulgate to the world the 
doctrine of the immortality of man, or the resurrec- 
tion of the dead, and to open and lead the way to 
eternal life. His countrymen were not willing to 
take his word for this ; they, as might reasonably be 
supposed, demanded miraculous evidence. The 
consistency of this demand he did not deny j on the 



THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST* 227 

contrary he asserted his divine authority by pointing 
to the works which he wrought. " The works 
which my Father hath given me to perform — the 
very works that I do — bear witness of me that the 
Father hath sent me." Nicodemns, the Pharisee, 
acknowledged these miraculous works as sufficient 
evidence of the divinity of his mission. "We know 
that thou art a teacher sent from God; for no man 
can do these miracles which thoudoest, except God 
be with him." Peter offered the same proof of the 
same fact to the Jews. He says, " Jesus of Naza- 
reth, (proved to you to be a man from God,) by 
miracles and wonders and signs which God did by 
hiin in the midst of you." Thus did Christ and his 
followers contend, and thus did the more consistent 
and liberal of his countrymen grant, that miraculous 
evidence was sufficient to prove that he bore the 
seals of divine authority — that he was commissioned 
and sent by God to instruct man in the ways of 
truth and duty. 

But Jesus was finally crucified, and the miracles 
which God wrought by him could no longer be 
pointed to as evidence of the divinity of his mission ; 
therefore the disciples constantly and fearlessly pre- 
sented in proof of it, a miracle which God wrought 
upon him, in raising him bodily from the dead. 
This resurrection was an undoubted and wonderful 
exhibition of Omnipotent energy. It was a clear 
and positive interposition of the original Giver of 
life ; and the apostles, in their defence of Christianity, 
and in their preaching, generally pointed to it as proof 



228 THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 

that the Almighty had assisted and approved him in 
all his works and teachings. This one fact soon 
occupied a more prominent place in their minds than 
all others ; for it was a most undeniable sanction of 
God to all their Master had done, or taught, or claim- 
ed, and consequently proof positive of the immor- 
tality of all men. Jesus predicted that he should 
be raised upon the third day ; and when this was 
accomplished, he was proved to be a true prophet. 
The spirit of prophecy is a miraculous gift ; and he 
who possesses it is proved to be divinely commis- 
sioned. Prove the resurrection of Christ false, and 
you disprove the divinity of his mission, make him 
an impostor, and destroy the credibility of the evan- 
gelists ; for they all testified most unequivocally to 
it ; and if their testimony was false in this, no con- 
fidence can be put in any thing else they have writ- 
ten ; and the conclusion is, that men were left to 
account as best they could for the existence and 
prevalence of Christianity in the world ; and if they 
believed it, their faith must rest upon nothing better 
than base imposition. That Christ's body was raised 
from the tomb, after he had predicted his resurrection, 
and after he had been crucified, seems sufficient 
to satisfy every one who believed in that astounding 
fact, that he was from God, and that whatever he 
taught was dictated by the spirit of God. That 
fact must have carried conviction to the minds of 
those who disregarded his miracles. The envious 
and the doubting might have ascribed the miracles 
to legerdemain or magic, or to the prince of demons. 



THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 229 

But neither of these could open the tomb, and res- 
cue an individual from the cold embrace of death, 
and bring him forth to the light of life, and enable 
him to stand before men, as though the grave had 
never closed upon him. The evidences of the 
divinity of his mission, which were continually 
accumulating as he advanced in his career of benefi- 
cence and miraculous operations, proving that God 
was with him, gathered in a bright halo around the 
tomb. The glory and truth of heaven, by which 
his whole course had been made radiant, was drawn 
to a focus upon that ; and as he burst its confines, 
raising to the heavens his nail-pierced hands, it was 
impossible for those who saw him rise, — and it is 
impossible for those who heartily believe that he 
rose, not to believe with the apostle Paul that he 
"was raised from the dead by the Omnipotence of 
the Father." 

This the apostles realized ; and therefore this is 
the reason, when they took their lives in their hands 
and went out to scatter the seeds of truth and right- 
eousness over the face of the Gentile world, that 
they attached so much importance to the resurrec- 
tion of Christ from the dead. This they considered 
the foundation upon which the whole temple of 
eternal life must be reared. Faith in that one fact 
lay at the bottom of the Gospel system. To prove 
that, was to prove all they had been instructed to 
preach. Upon that fact, they were willing to stake 
all they held dear. "If Christ be not risen," says 
Paul, "then is our preaching vain, and your faith is 

11 



230 THE RESURRECTIOJN OF CHRIST. 

also vain ; yea, and we are found false witnesses of 
God, because we have testified of God that he hath 
raised up Christ." Thus does the apostle risk his 
whole cause, his reputation for honesty, and his tem- 
poral and spiritual welfare, upon the single fact that 
the Son of man was raised from the dead. He does 
this because that was a fact ; and because on the 
belief of it must be based the belief in the divinity 
of Christ's mission, in every mind to which his gos- 
pel should be addressed. Now the divinity of his 
mission being established, all he taught or revealed 
is established according to his claims ; for none can 
be so void of reason as to suppose that the God of 
the universe would either send forth a messenger to 
publish falsehood, and bestow upon him miraculous 
powers to witness to it ; or that a divinely commis- 
sioned herald of truth would prove recTeant, and pro- 
claim a falsehood to the children of men. 

It being a fact, then, that the apostles constantly 
pointed to the resurrection of Christ as a pre-emi- 
nent proof of the divinity of his mission ; and that 
it must be, by all minds, in all ages, considered as 
irrefragable evidence of it, — the conclusion is legiti- 
mate that the direct and immediate object of that 
wonderful event was, to give evidence of that great 
truth, upon which the whole Christian system is 
based. 

The resurrection of Christ has another work to 
perform beside that of operating upon the intellect, 
or convincing the understanding, and that is upon 
the heart. Its ultimate object is a moral one. Saith 



THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST, 231 

an apostle, "He was delivered for our offences, and 
raised for our justification" — that "God raised up 
Jesns from the dead, and gave him glory, that our 
hope as well as our faith might be in God" — and 
that as Christ was raised from the dead by the power 
of the Father so we should walk in newness of life." 
Says Paul, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek 
those things which are above, where Christ sitteth 
on the right hand of God." Thus we must rise 
ivith him above all the works of death, through faith 
in the power of God who raised him from the dead. 
"The revival of Christ, to be sure, is a bare phys- 
ical fact. A certain portion of organized matter 
passed out of one state into another state. Yet 
when should we come to an end of enumerating the 
influences of that fact ? It is the key-stone to 
Jewish history. It binds together into a whole the 
extraordinary narrative which begins with the call of 
Abraham, or the mission of Moses, and ends in the 
destruction of the Jewish polity and the dispersion 
of the Jews. To both events, and all that inter- 
venes, it gives meaning and unity. That bare physi- 
cal fact illustrates the character of the pure and in- 
finite Spirit. It reveals God as the Almighty and 
the all-loving. Look at it in its effects on the spec- 
ulations of philosophers ; it solved the most difficult 
question in which they had entangled themselves, 
and the most deeply interesting. It superseded their 
conflicting arguments on the destiny of man, and 
made historical fact banish metaphysical doubt. See 
its political bearing: how large a portion it has col- 



232 THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 

ored of the broad surface of the stream of time. On 
theory and practice, mind and manners, private life 
and public history, the past and the future, — how 
illimitable are its influences !" # 

* W. J. Fox. 



CHAPTER XI. 

AN EXAMINATION OF THE FIFTEENTH CHAPTER 

OF FIRST CORINTHIANS. 

By consulting chapter 3 : 6 — 10, of this epistle to 
the Corinthians, and Acts 18 : 1 — 18, we learn that 
St. Paul was the first who preached the gospel at 
Corinth, that city of splendor and moral corruption. 
He labored there a considerable length of time, and 
succeeded in establishing a church, composed, prob- 
ably, of Jews and Gentiles. But having work to 
do in other places, he was obliged to leave them, 
after which other teachers visited Corinth, and were 
the cause of much strife and improper conduct 
among the brethren, who gradually fell from their 
first estate, and finally became extremely disorderly 
and licentious, (chap. 1: 11, 12 ; 3: 3 — 10, 22,) 
This was probably brought about in part by their 
teachers, and in part by old habits and the vicious 
practices of those around them. Paul hearing of 
this wrote to them (chap. 5 : 9) an epistle, which is 
not now extant. But it seems they paid little or no 
attention to his rebukes and instructions. At all 
events, they did not improve by his admonitions ; 
and some of their teachers denied his authority alto- 
gether, and taught doctrines which were false in 



234 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

theory and pernicious in practice, (chap. 6 : 18, 19; 
9: 1 — 3; 14: 37.) So that they were not only 
vile in their general deportment, but they had em- 
braced certain errors in doctrine, which induced 
some to deny the resurrection of the dead. 

Thus had things come to such a crisis> that some 
of the church wrote a letter to St. Paul, asking for 
instruction in relation to certain particulars. When 
he received this letter, and learned from the bearers 
of it, more fully, the debased condition of the 
church at Corinth, he wrote this epistle, which is 
called the first to the Corinthians. And in the fif- 
teenth chapter he gives the doctrine of the resurrec- 
tion a thorough examination ; a far more extended 
and elaborate consideration than any other of the 
New Testament writers. In fact, the doctrine is no 
where else so luminously and extensively considered 
in the Bible. 

He commences by stating that his views of the 
Gospel were the same that they were when he was 
with them, laboring to build them up in the most 
holy faith ; and by which, if they had not forgotten 
his teachings, and believed in vain, they were saved, 
that is, brought into harmony with the requirements 
of the divine government, or into reconciliation to 
God. Bat from all these circumstances, it was evi- 
dent that little of this work had been done, espe- 
cially upon those who denied the doctrine of the 
resurrection ; and hence, he goes on to give them a 
clear view of the foundation upon which that doc- 
trine rests. He says, that among the first things 



FIFTEENTH CHAPTER OF L CORliNTHIANS. 235 

which he had preached unto them, was that Christ 
died as a sin-offering, was buried, and rose again the 
third day from the dead, according to the Scriptures, 
(verses 3, 4, 5.) This was not a matter of dispute, 
for after his resurrection (verses 6, 7, 8,) he was seen 
by Cephas, or Simon Peter, then by all the apostles, 
or by the twelve. After that, more than five hundred 
brethren saw him at one time ; some of whom had 
died, but a large number of them were still living. 
Again, he was seen by James, then by all the apostles; 
and last of all he appeared to Paul himself, while he 
was journeying to Damascus with authority from 
the chief priests to persecute the church of God. 
(verses 9, 10.) 

Here (verses 9, 10,) the apostle deviates a little 
from his main subject, to dwell a few moments on 
the humiliating thought of his former blindness and 
bigotry, which pressed heavily on his mind. He 
says, he was not worthy to be called an apostle ; 
but that the grace of God had made him one ; and 
that that grace was not bestowed in vain ; for it had 
made him labor more efficiently in the Gospel vine- 
yard than all the apostles. 

But he now returns (verse 11) to the main sub- 
ject, by saying that he agreed with all the apostles 
in preaching that Christ was actually raised from the 
dead ; and that this was believed, also, by those 
whom he addressed. Not doubting this fact, he 
shows them (verses 12 — 16) that their unbelief, in 
relation to the resurrection of all men from the dead, 
was absurd ; for he contended, that if they admitted 



236 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

the resurrection of Christ, then they admitted that 
one dead person had been raised to life, and if one 
had been raised, then there was no reason to doubt 
the ability and will of God to raise up all the dead. 
But, if it were true, as some affirmed, that the dead 
could not be raised, then Christ was not raised ; and 
if Christ was not raised, they who had preached and 
they who had believed the doctrine of his resurrec- 
tion, had preached and believed a base delusion; 
yea, more, the preachers of that delusion had lied 
concerning God, by testifying that he had raised up 
Christ whom he had not raised up. 

Here (verse 17) the apostle halts a little, to draw 
the conclusions which naturally followed the posi- 
tion that Christ was not risen. In the first place, he 
concluded that the Christian system was a sheer 
delusion, and that those who had embraced it were 
grossly deceived, and were trusting in a stupendous 
falsehood, instead of cherishing that truth of God 
which is able to save the soul from sin. In the sec- 
ond place, (verse 18) those who had fallen asleep in 
Christ, or died believing in him, were perished or 
annihilated. There could be no evidence to the 
contrary, if Christ was not raised ; for to Christians 
there is no other infallible ground of hope, however 
much speculation there may be in the world about 
the future life, growing out of the desires of men, 
and the inferences which they are able to draw from 
some of the dispensations of the Divine Providence. 
Moreover, if there was nothing to hope from Christ 
beyond this life, those who had trusted in him were 



FIFTEENTH CHAPTER OF I. CORINTHIANS. 237 

of all men the most to be pitied ; for this trust had 
brought upon them the most bitter persecution, and 
in consequence of their faith they had been exposed 
to all sorts of danger. 

But the apostle (verse 20) re-asserts the truth of 
Christ's resurrection. Now is Christ risen from the 
dead, says he, (verses 20 — 23,) and become the 
certain pledge, the highest evidence that all the dead 
shall be raised to immortal life. For, since man 
brought death with him into the world, it was 
highly proper for him to bring deliverance from it. 
Adam introduced the bondage of death ; Christ the 
emancipation from it. Adam was created mortal ; 
the seeds of decay and death were planted by the 
Creator in his system ; consequently he died, and as 
all his desendants have a similar constitution, they 
are destined to die also ; and as all Adam's posterity 
have, and must follow him to the regions of the 
dead ; so all shall follow Christ to the realms of 
eternal life, " or be raised to immortality in that con- 
stitution of which he is the head, and which his 
resurrection first demonstrated." This does not, to be 
sure, assert in so many words that the dead shall be 
raised simultaneously with their dying, but it does 
imply that they shall be raised successively. Adam 
died first, and all up to this time have followed him 
in quick succession ; so shall they be made alive in 
Christ successively. All having Adam's mortal con- 
stitution die, or follow him one after another to the 
grave, but all that follow him there shall be made 
alive in Christ. How ? not simultaneously, but 

11* 



238 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

successively as they have died in Adam. " But 
every man in his own order, Christ the first fruits ; 
afterwards, they that are Christ's at his coming." 
(verse 23.) Here are difficulties, and the question 
presents itself, What are we to understand by the 
" order," the " first fruits," and the coming which 
the apostle mentions ? We know how this is gen- 
erally answered, but where is the evidence that the 
apostle had reference to order of. time, when he said, 
"every man in his own order ?" There is nothing in 
the Scriptures, to my knowledge, that affords such 
evidence. The apostle himself intimates nothing of 
the kind. But his whole train of remarks, as we 
have followed him up to this point, indicates plainly 
that he had reference to evidence, and not to time, 
when he used the phrase, "every man in his own 
order." This will be more apparent if we examine 
the other parts of the verse. 

If we are to understand the phrase, "every man in 
his own order," as referring to time, we must under- 
stand the apostle to say, that Christ was the first in 
order of time that had arisen from the dead. But this 
would not be true. If we may believe the Scriptures, 
we know that a number of persons had been raised 
from the dead previous to Christ's resurrection. The 
Shunamite's son, Jairus' daughter, the young man at 
Nain, and Lazarus, had been raised to life before 
Christ's crucifixion. It may be said that he was 
the first that arose to immortality, to die no more. 
But this is not true ; Moses and Elias had been raised 
from the dead to immortality, and enjoyed a con- 



FIFTEENTH CHAPTER OF I. CORUNTHIAJNS. 239 

scious existence, or they could not have conversed 
with Christ as they did on the mount of Transfigu- 
ration, in the presence of his disciples, who under- 
stood that they appeared personally in their glorious 
resurrection bodies. We read in Matt. 22 : 31, 32, 
" But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have 
ye not read that which was spoken unto you by 
God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the 
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not 
the God of the dead, but of the living." To this, 
Luke adds, "For all live unto him." Here it is 
plainly stated that God is not the God of the dead, 
but of the living, yet he is the God of Abraham, 
Isaac and Jacob, who had been dead many long ages. 
Of course they must have been living in the immor- 
tal world, when Christ used this language, else God 
was God of the dead. But how could they be liv- 
ing unless they had been raised from the dead ? 
Christ was not the first, then, in order of time, that 
was revived from the dead, or that arose to immor- 
tality to die no more. 

But there is no need of making the Bible contra- 
dict itself in this manner. The phrases " first born," 
"firbt fruits," etc., do not necessarily mean first in 
order of time, but according to scripture usage they 
mean pledge or pre-eminence. Of the phrase first 
born, says Dr. Clarke, " From its use in a great 
variety of places, in the Scriptures, it is evident that 
it means the chief, most excellent, best beloved, most 
distinguished, &c." Agreeable to this, St. Paul 
says of Jesus, in Colossians 1 : 18, "And he is the 



240 AiN EXAMINATION OF THE 

head of the body, the church, who is the begin- 
ning, (the chief,) the first born from the dead, that 
in all things he might have the pre-eminence. In 
Romans 8 : 29, Christ is called the "first born among 
many brethren ; that is, he is more excellent than all 
creatures, and greater than all the children of men." 
In Hebrews 12 : 23, we read of "the general assembly 
and church of the first born, that is the most noble 
and excellent of all human, if not created beings." 
The following passage may be urged as an objection 
to this view of the subject : " That Christ should 
suffer, and that he should be the first that should 
rise from the dead." This does seem to be very de- 
cisive in making Christ the first that arose from the 
dead ; but according to Wakefield's translation, the 
whole passage should read thus : " That Christ 
would suffer death, and would be the first to pro- 
claim salvation to this people and the Gentiles, by a 
resurrection from the dead." The word (protos,) 
which is here rendered first, according to Donnegan, 
means first in place, rank, or eminence ; the most 
eminent, the most illustrious, the principal. Even 
this passage, then, affords no evidence that Christ 
was the first which arose from the dead ; it only 
makes him the most eminent among those that had 
been raised. 

Take now the phrase, "first fruits," and according 
to the ordinances of Moses, it signifies that portion 
of the crop which was selected and presented in the 
sanctuary, before the main harvest was gathered in. 
But these first fruits were offered, not to prove that 



FIFTEENTH CHAPTER OF 1. COR1JSTHIAJNS. 241 

they were the first that had ripened, but as the pledge 
and assurance of the consecration of the whole har- 
vest, throughout the whole nation, to God. So 
Christ stood pre-eminent among those that had been 
raised from the dead. Others had been raised to 
mortal life only to die again ; but he had been raised, 
to die no more, to immortality, and thus had he 
become the sure pledge, the highest evidence of the 
resurrection of all men to immortality. 

But afterwards they that are ChrisVs at his 
coming. This seems to indicate that there might be 
some at his coming, who would not be acknowledged 
as belonging to Christ; and if the coming refers to a 
general resurrection, then such would not be raised. 
To avoid this conclusion it has been maintained that 
all men are Christ's ; they being related to him as the 
general harvest to the first fruits ; " Christ the first 
fruits, afterwards they that are Christ's" — are his to 
make alive, as mentioned in the preceding verse. 
This seems rather far-fetched. On examination, a 
number of passages have been found in the New 
Testament, which speak of some who were Christ's, 
but they were such as professed to believe in him, and 
had been more or less faithful in his cause and in the 
practice of his precepts. We read Galatians 5 : 24, 
" And they that were Christ's have crucified the flesh 
with affections and lusts." M Now if any man have 
not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Romans 
8 : 9. None are Christ's, then, but those who have 
his spirit ; and if none but such are to be raised from 
the dead, few will be raised. For I suppose it will 



242 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

not be denied that some die without having the spirit 
of Christ, in the sense here mentioned : and if they 
are not raised from the dead, till they do receive it, 
they will never be raised, unless there is an interme- 
diate state between death and the resurrection where 
they can enjoy Gospel privileges. But this is a doc- 
trine believed by so few, and so unscriptural and un- 
reasonable, that it would be time misemployed to 
examine it. 

The phrase "they that are Christ's" must mean, 
then, his faithful disciples; and the phrase "at his 
coming" must have reference to his coming in his 
kingdom ; for no other coming of Christ is mentioned 
in the New Testament. We are not told there that 
he will come at some time, yet future, to raise at once 
all the dead to immortality. So that we may under- 
stand that those of Christ's disciples w T ho had laid 
down their lives in his cause, would stand before the 
world as witnesses, at the commencement and during 
his mediatorial reign, of his resurrection and conse- 
quently of the resurrection of all men. When Christ 
was crucified, his disciples all forsook him and fled, 
for fear of the Jews, but when he arose from the dead 
a change came over them ; so impressed were they 
with the importance of the fact of his resurrection 
that they went forth in the face of all opposition, and 
preached Jesus and the resurrection/showing that on 
his resurrection hinged the door which opened into 
regions of immortality reserved for all mankind, and 
finally by laying down their lives as a testimony of 
their sincerity, they have stood as witnesses of that 



FIFTEENTH CHAPTER OF I, CORIJNTHLAJNS. 243 

doctrine even unto this day. The Revelator John 
confirms this idea. He says, "And I saw thrones, and 
they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: 
and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the 
witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which 
had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, 
neither had received the mark upon their foreheads or 
in their hands ; and they lived and reigned with 
Christ a thousand years." Rev. 20: 4. And how 
does it revive our drooping faith to realize that there 
were men who declared, in the most solemn manner, 
that they were well acquainted with Jesus of Naza- 
reth, before he was crucified, and that they saw him 
after the resurrection, and knew him to be the same 
individual who had been put to death,and finally sealed 
their testimony with their blood ! If they testified 
falsely they persisted in it unto death ; and thus pre- 
ferred to suffer death rather than to abandon what 
they knew to be false. We have often heard of men 
who have died martyrs to what they supposed to be 
true ; but it is incredible that men should knowingly 
assert a falsehood, and then yield up their lives and 
all earthly interests in the support of it. 

The apostle, having spoken in the previous verse 
(23) of Christ's coming, proceeds to enlarge on his 
mediatorial reign. He says, "Then cometh the end;" 
and some contend that this end and the coming 
mentioned in the twenty-third verse are simultaneous 
events. The apostle's language, however, indicates 
nothing of the kind ; it rather appears to have been 
selected so as to guard against the idea. To support 



244 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

it, his language should read thus : but every man in 
his own order ; Christ the first fruits, afterwards they 
that are Christ's at his coming, at the general resur- 
rection, for the end cometh when the general resur- 
rection shall take place. But, on the contrary, h&says, 
u Every man in his own order, Christ the first fruits, 
afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming. The 
end shall be, then, when he shall have delivered up the 
kingdom to God, even the Father ; when he shall have 
put down all rule and all authority and power. For 
he must (come) and reign, till he hath put all enemies 
under his feet; the last enemy death shall be destroyed." 
From this it appears that the end and the coming are 
two distinct events, between which a great work must 
be accomplished. The coming refers to Christ's com- 
ing in his kingdom ; hence the end will not be till he 
has reigned in it long enough to abolish all opposing 
power and authority, and to lay at his feet all princi- 
ples and conditions, adverse to the principles and con- 
ditions of his government ; and as immortal life be- 
longed to the economy over which he had been placed, 
he will continue in the work committed to his hands 
till death, the last enemy, is destroyed; for to this end, 
and to the end that he might subject to his authority 
all intelligences, God, in the divine counsels, before 
the world was, put all things under his feet. But 
when it is said that all things were put under him, it 
is manifest that God is excepted — that he did not put 
himself under Christ ; for he is to reign, till he sub- 
dues every thing inimical to the principles of his king- 
dom only ; then he will deliver up the kingdom to 



FIFTEENTH CHAPTER OF 1. CORINTHIANS. 245 

God, and become subject himself to him of whom he 
received his authority; and thus God will be all in all. 

The apostle is too explicit here, to be misunderstood. 
He places the mediatorial reign of Christ in such a 
light as to leave no grounds for disputing the final 
reconciliation and consequent happiness of all men. 
The attempts which have been made to put another 
construction upon it — to sustain the trinity and vica- 
rious atonement, are puerile and unworthy of the least 
consideration. 

But having settled the point with regard to the rise, 
progress, and consummation of Christ's kingdom or 
reign, the apostle reverts back to the nineteenth verse, 
and pursues farther the train of remark he had intro- 
duced, concerning the absurdity involved in the denial 
of the resurrection of the dead. 

" Else what shall they do, which are baptized for 
the dead, if the dead rise not at all ? why are they 
baptized for the dead ? And why stand we in jeop- 
ardy every hour ?" (verses 29, 30.) Here is a question 
extremely embarrassing to expositors, and has received 
as great a variety of explanations as any other portion 
of Scripture. " Else what shall they do, which are 
baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all ?" 
What is the import of this question ? Among the 
expositions given of it the following appears the mQSt 
plausible : There was a custom among some of the 
churches, as early as the commencement of the third 
century at least, of baptizing persons for, or in behalf 
of such converts as died without baptism. In all prob- 
ability this practice prevailed in the church at Corinth, 



246 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

at the time this epistle was written ; and therefore the 
apostle took occasion to show that it was very incon- 
sistent to regard such a ceremony, and at the same 
time deny the resurrection of the dead. This con- 
struction seems more evident from the fact that the 
Greek article is used thus —baptized for the dead — 
while it is not often employed in those places where 
all the dead are mentioned or designated, which indi- 
cates that the apostle designed to point out a particu- 
lar class of the dead, for whom others were baptized, 
rather than the dead universally.* The question which 
he asks immediately following this one, is not so diffi- 
cult of solution : " Why stand we in jeopardy every 
hour ?" or rather what inducement have we to hazard 
our lives and earthly interests in promulgating the 
Gospel, if there be no resurrection of the dead ? Yet 
saith the apostle, to the Corinthians, (verses 31, 32, 
33, 34,) if I have been instrumental in bringing you 
to a knowledge of Christ, I rejoice, though I die 
daily," or am continually in danger of losing my life. 
I consider the danger and hardship to which I am ex- 
posed but a small matter, if the doctrine of the res- 
urrection be true ; but if it be not true, why should I 
expose myself thus ? What advantage will accrue to 
me for having contended with a fierce and beastly 
mob at Ephesus, (verse 32) if my hope in the resur- 
rection be a delusion ? What motive is there to in- 
duce one to brave all the dangers of martyrdom if the 
dead rise not? Than to do this, we had better eat 

# See the Notes of H. Ballon, 2d., on this chapter, Uni. 
Quarterly, vol 2, No. 11, p. 161. 



FIFTEENTH CHAPTER OF I. CORINTHIANS. 247 

and drink, and gratify our animal propensities, as the 
highest good within our reach ; for we shall soon die, 
and then the means of every kind of enjoyment will 
be forever beyond our reach. But, brethren, be not 
deceived by the false and pernicious sentiments and 
habits, which are so prevalent around you. " Evil 
communications corrupt good manners ;" and your 
daily contact with the sensual disciples of Epicurus, 
who flood Corinth with their licentiousness, is danger- 
ous. Therefore it is time for you to abandon your 
sins, and awake to righteousness, and thus guard your- 
selves against the corrupting influences to which you 
are exposed. 

Here the apostle anticipates that a difficulty might 
arise in some minds concerning the resurrection. He 
supposes, (see verses 35, 36, 37, 38,) that some 
might ask, " How are the dead raised up ? and with 
what body do they come ?" A foolish question, an- 
swers he, involving no difficulty of an inseparable 
nature. "Thou sowest not that body that shall be, 
but bare grain," &c. A kernel of wheat must fall 
into the ground and die, or it will remain unproduc- 
tive. But the kernel which springs from the one sown 
is not the same that was sown ; it is different, though 
similar in appearance, whether it be wheat or any other 
grain.* We are not to understand, of course, that 

# The inquiry what makes vegetables the same, in the common 
acceptation of the word, does not appear to have any relation 
to this of personal identity ; because the word same, when ap- 
plied to them and to persons, is not only applied to different 
subjects, but it is also used in different senses. For when a 
mau swears to the same tree, as having stood fifty years in the 
same place, he means only the same as to all the purposes of 



H8 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

he kernel of grain dies totally ; this would make the 

apostle utter a philosophical absurdity ; but we are to 

inderstand that only the farinaceous parts die ; the 

jerm which they enfold does not die ; it springs up 

and receives another body — not the same, though 

similar to the one sown. In like manner, the human 

body dies, but the spirit springs forth unhurt by death, 

and receives a new body from the hand of God, fitted 

to the new circumstances of its existence. For "God 

giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every 

seed its own body ;" that is, its own proper body. 

He does not give a germ of wheat, a body of barley. 

He has so arranged the laws of the natural world 

property and uses of common life, and not that the tree has 
been all that time the same in the strict philosophical sense of 
the word. For he does not know whether any one particle of 
the present tree be the same with any one particle of the tree 
which stood in the same place fifty years ago. And if they 
have not one common particle of matter, they cannot be the 
same tree, in the proper philosophical sense of the word same; 
it being evidently a contradiction in terms to say they are, when 
no part of their substance, and no one of their properties, is 
the same — no part of their substance, by the supposition ; and 
no one of their properties, because it is allowed that the same 
property cannot be transferred ftom one substance to another. 
And therefore when we say the identity or sameness of a plant 
consists in a continuation of the same life communicated under 
the same organization, to a number of particles of matter, 
whether the same or not, the word same, when applied to life and 
organization, cannot possibly be understood to signify what it 
signifies in this very sentence when applied to matter. In a 
loose and popular sense, then, the life, and the organization, 
and the plant are justly said to be the same, notwithstanding 
the perpetual change of the parts. But in a strict and philo- 
sophical manner of speech, no man, no being, no mode of 
being, nor any thing, can be the same with that with which it 
hath indeed nothing the same. Now sameness is used in this 
latter sense applied to persons. The identity of these, there- 
fore, cannot subsist with diversity of substance." [Butler's 
Anal. Dissert. I. 



FIFTEENTH CHAPTER OF I. CORINTHIANS. 249 

that when grain is sown, whatever may be the kind, 
it will receive its own proper body ; and though it 
will not be the same that was sown — yet it will be 
similar to it. A barley germ will receive a barley 
body ; a wheat germ will receive a wheat body, and 
not the converse. So the human body dies and God 
provides the spirit with a spiritual body, — not formed 
like a beast, or bird, or fish — similar in appearance, 
though different in quality from the natural one, 
which has been consigned to death. Hence individ- 
uals will have no difficulty in identifying each other. 
This conception (verses 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45,) 
involves no difficulty ; for we know that there are 
various kinds of bodies. There are terrestrial and 
celestial bodies, all differing from each other in glory. 
There are different kinds of flesh, — flesh of men, of 
beasts, of birds, and of fishes. So will our resurrec- 
tion bodies differ from our mortal bodies. The one 
is corruptible and must die, the other is incorruptible 
and not subject to death. The one is dishonorable, 
the other will be glorious. The one is weak, the 
other will be powerful. The one is an animal body, 
the other a spiritual body. And so it is written in 
Genesis 2: 7, that the "Lord God formed man of the 
dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the 
breath of life and man became a living soul," or a 
living, animate being. " Such is the constitution we 
all inherit from the first man Adam." " The last 
Adam is made a quickening spirit," That is, Christ, 
who is the representation of all men in the resurrec- 
tion state, and in whom they are all to be made alive, 



250 AIM EXAMINATION OF THE 

is a spirit that vivifies, makes alive, and such is to be 
our constitution hereafter." 

But all men receive the animal constitution or body 
first ; the spiritual afterward, (verses 46, 47, 48, 49.) 
As the first state of man is in the same kind of con- 
stitution that Adam had, that is, of the earth, earthy ; 
so, the second state of man is to be in the constitu- 
tion of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is, from heaven, 
heavenly. For "As is the earthy, such are they also 
that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they 
also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the 
image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of 
the heavenly." 

But saith the apostle, in order that this may come 
to pass, the body with its appetites and passions must 
be wholly laid aside. "It cannot inherit the kingdom 
of God. It was of the dust and must return to, and 
mingle with the dust, as it was before formed into 
human bodies." 

The apostle having thus concluded, (in verse 50,) 
from his previous arguments, that "flesh and blood" 
could not inherit or go into the kingdom of God, pro- 
ceeds to remove a difficulty that this conclusion might 
suggest to the minds of the Corinthians. "Behold I 
show you a mystery," says he, or rather I will lay 
open plainly, or explain a matter, which seems to you 
mysterious. He had spoken of the resurrection state 
as being glorious beyond all conception ; he had labor- 
ed to show that nothing earthly could equal it ; and 
he had affirmed that if the doctrine of Christ con- 
cerning it were true, he regarded the evils he had suf- 



FIFTEENTH CHAPTER OF 1. CORINTHIANS. 251 

fered in its promulgation not worthy of mention, and 
that with it in view he could wade through seas of 
affliction rejoicing. And yet he contended that flesh 
and blood could not enter upon that state. Well 
might such sentiments appear mysterious to those who 
had never enjoyed much happiness, higher than that 
which arises from sensual gratification ; and such 
doubtless were many of the Corinthians, At least, 
sensual pleasure must have held a high place in their 
world of felicity. Look at the condition of Corinth 
when St. Paul first visited it ; view it as described by 
the writers of Greece and Rome. It was a place 
wholly given to luxury and sensualism. It was noted 
for its great Avealth, gross licentiousness, and exten- 
sive trade. It was filled with the most splendid and 
magnificent specimens of Grecian art. It abounded 
in what Gibbon has called, "the cheerful devotion, 
the elegant forms, and agreeable fictions of Grecian 
superstition." In its vicinity was the god Neptune 
honored by celebrations and games, and hard by was 
the temple of Venus, that splendid den of moral pol- 
lution. The whole city was filled with libraries, 
schools, and sophists ; and the people were fed con- 
tinually upon a corrupt and enervating literature. In 
short it was overrun by the disciples of Epicurus, who 
denied the immortality of the soul and placed the 
sum of human happiness in corporeal pleasure. In 
such a city and from among such a people was the 
church at Corinth gathered. Is it to be supposed, 
that the members of this church could at once divest 
themselves of all the habits, feelings, and sentiments 



252 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

in which they had been educated ? No ; the epistles 
which the apostle wrote to them, show that in spite 
of all the instruction he had given them while with 
them personally, they were strongly attached to their 
old habits and sentiments. It is not at all strange, 
then, that the doctrine of the resurrection, as present- 
ed by the apostle, should appear mysterious. How 
could they appreciate the blessedness of a heaven, 
where flesh and blood could not enter, and which 
would yield spiritual happiness only. Their spiritual 
nature had been cultivated but little, and of course 
they had known comparatively nothing of spiritual 
enjoyment. When, therefore, they heard the apostle 
speak with so much enthusiasm of a resurrection 
state, where only spiritual pleasure was to be found, 
and where " flesh and blood" could never enter, it is 
no marvel, that they should regard the matter as some 
what mystical. But he proceeds to explain it by say- 
ing, (verses 51—55,) "we shall not all sleep, but we 
shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of 
an eye, at the last trump. (For the trump shall sound, 
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we 
shall be changed.) For this corruptible must put on 
incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." 
The words, To phtharton, rendered corruptible, 
and To thuet on, mortal, should be construed as ad- 
jectives in the neuter gender, signifying persons. This 
will not be thought improper, when it is remembered 
that the apostle, in the forty-sixth verse, uses two 
adjectives in the neuter gender to signify the persons 
of Adam and Christ, in a manner precluding the pos- 



FIFTEENTH CHAPTER OF 1. CORINTHIANS. 253 

sibility of understanding them in any other sense. 
He says, "And so it is written, the first man Adam 
was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a 
quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which 
is spiritual, but that which is natural ; and afterward 
that which is spiritual." So, in Matthew 1 : 20, and 
Luke 1 : 35, we find adjectives of the neuter gender 
used to signify the person of Christ. The apostle, 
therefore, must not be understood as saying that these 
mortal and corruptible bodies will put on immortality 
and incorruption, but that the persons who have worn 
mortal and corruptible bodies here will be clothed 
upon with incorruptible and immortal bodies, in the 
resurrection state ; or that this mortal man shall put 
on immortality, and this corruptible man shall put on 
incorruption. 

But from the different theories which this language 
has been made to support, it would seem that the 
apostle's explanation needs to be explained. It has 
been supposed by some, that he was mistaken in rela- 
tion to the nature of and the time when the change, 
he mentions, would take place. It is said "that the 
general expectation of the Jews looked forward to a 
period of consummation or restitution, frequently 
called the "last day" — "the world to come" — "the 
reign of the Messiah," — when a new order of things 
was to be ushered in, among which was to be the 
event denominated the resurrection of the dead. 
And it is thought that the apostle expected this event 
would take place at the time of Christ's coming, at the 
destruction of the Jewish polity and the city of Jera- 

12 



254 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

salem, and the setting up his own kingdom ; and that, 
therefore, when he said, "We shall not all sleep, but 
we shall all be changed," he meant, that some of 
those who were then professed Christians would live 
till Christ come, and that then the dead would be 
raised, and the living changed to immortality without 
tasting death. If the apostle really made such a mis- 
take as this, can we place full confidence in any of 
his teachings ? If he could be mistaken in a matter, 
so important as this, how do we know, but he makes 
mistakes when he pretends to explain some of the 
most important parts of the Christian religion ? In 
fact, if we begin to doubt his statements, where shall 
we stop ? It seems to me that every effort, made to 
convict the apostle of mistakes in his statements, is 
directly calculated to bring distrust upon every thing 
he has written. Besides, there is nothing in all his 
teachings, which goes to show that he misunderstood 
the nature of Christ's coming, and of his kingdom. 
And we shall dismiss this part of the subject by sim- 
ply saying, that we have full confidence in the apos- 
tle, as an able and intelligent expounder of the Chris- 
tian system, who was too conscientious to preach, for 
truth, doctrines which he did not understand. 

But there are others, who think he recognizes and 
supports their notions of a simultaneous resurrection, 
yet future. They maintain, that when he said, "we 
shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, " he 
meant that when the general resurrection shall take 
place, there will be some living on the earth, and that 
such will not die, but will be changed in a moment, 



FIFTEENTH CHAPTER OF 1. CORINTHIANS. 255 

from mortality to immortality. But let it be remarked 
here, that if this be true, the apostle makes a very 
uncommon, if not an improper use of the pronoun 
we. He says, "We shall not all sleep, (die) but we 
shall all be changed." Did he mean by this, that he, 
and some of those whom he addressed, would remain 
alive on the earth till the general resurrection, which 
is yet future, and then be changed to immortality ? 
If so, he must have been grossly mistaken ; and if 
not so, what did he mean ? Would it not be well to 
prove "the general resurrection" to be a Bible doctrine, 
before we undertake to make the apostle's language 
apply to it ? — forcing it into such an awkward posi- 
tion. I am acquainted with no Scripture, that, when 
rightly interpreted, will yield the least evidence of 
a general or simultaneous resurrection. I can see 
nothing in the divine economy demanding such a res- 
urrection, and I know of no reason in the wide world 
for it. Certainly, till this doctrine can be proved from 
some other source, the apostle's language ought not 
to be pressed into its service ; for this would be wrest- 
ing it from its natural import; and it can be explained 
much more consistently in another way. 

When we look at his previous remarks, the import 
of his language under consideration is very obvious. 
He had stated that the first or earthly state of man 
is in the animal constitution of Adam, the earthy; and 
that the second state would be in the spiritual consti- 
tution of Christ, the Lord from heaven. In order to 
this last state, every individual must, of course, un- 
dergo a great change. " Hence," saith the apostle, 



256 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

" we shall not all sleep/' in death ; that is, the whole 
or every part of us will not die, but every part of us 
will be changed. The body will die and be changed 
to dust ; the spirit will not die, but will be changed 
from a natural to a spiritual body. " For this cor- 
ruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal 
must put on immortality." 

That this was the change contemplated by the 
apostle, is evident from the tenor of his remarks, 
found in close connection with the language under 
examination, as follows : " Now, this I say, brethren, 
that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of 
God ; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 
Behold, I show you a mystery : we shall not all sleep, 
but shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twink- 
ling of an eye, at the last trump." Here the apostle 
encloses an explanation in a parenthesis, ( u For the 
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised in- 
corruptible, and we shall be changed.") Let it be 
carefully noticed, in this place, that only the ive is 
spoken of, as being subject to a change ; hence, we 
conclude, from what the apostle says in other parts 
of the chapter about the change, which all who have 
borne the image of Adam must undergo, that the 
dead, who should be raised, and the we, who should 
be changed, mean the same individuals. If all men do 
not die, what sense is there in his reasoning ? For 
he says, " Thou fool ! that which thou sowest is not 
quickened except it first die." If there ever shall be 
any who do not die, they will not be quickened or 
raised from the dead, and if they are ever favored 



FIFTEENTH CHAPTER OF I. CORINTHLAJNS. 257 

with a view of the immortal world, they must be 
ushered into it bodily, with all the infirmities of the 
flesh clinging to them, and the saying that " flesh and 
blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God," will be 
proved untrue. Farther, I apprehend that the change 
from mortality to immortality, cannot be effected 
without the agency of death, — that none can expe- 
rience this transition without dying. This will be 
manifest if we consider that death, according to 
the apostle's analogical argument, drawn from the 
kernel of wheat, is merely the dissolution of the body, 
of the material organization, the means by which the 
spirit keeps up its communication with the present 
world, and the departure of the spirit into a spiritual 
body prepared for it. 

But it may be asked whether this idea of death com- 
ports with the apostle's doctrine of the resurrection ? 
We answer, yes ; for we think it susceptible of strong 
proof that St. Paul, and all of the other New 
Testament writers, in most cases, used the word 
Anastasis, translated resurrection, as signifying fu- 
ture life — not the process by which individuals are 
brought to the future life ; not the means of transition 
from the present to the future life ; but the future 
life itself. Dr. Dwight, in his sermon on the resur- 
rection, after observing that the subject treated by 
Paul, I. Cor, 15, is the Anastasis, or future existence 
of man, thus proceeds: " This word Anastasis is 
commonly, but often erroneously, rendered resurrec- 
tion. So far as I have observed, it usually denotes 
our existence beyond the grave. Its original and lit • 



258 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

eral meaning is, to stand up, or stand again. As 
standing is the appropriate posture of life, conscious- 
ness and activity, and lying down the appropriate 
posture of the dead, the unconscious and the inac- 
tive, this word is not unnaturally employed to denote 
the future state of spirits, who are living, conscious, 
and active beings. Many passages of Scripture would 
have been rendered more intelligible, and the thoughts 
contained in them more just and impressive, had this 
word been translated agreeable to its real meaning. 
This observation will be sufficiently illustrated by a 
recurrence to that remarkable passage which contains 
the dispute between our Saviour and the Sadducees. 
"Then came unto him," says the evangelist, "the Sad- 
ducees, who say there is no resurrection, (me einai 
anastasin,) that there is no future state, or no future 
existence of mankind. They declare seven brothers to 
have married successively one wife, who survived 
them all. They then ask, " whose wife shall she be 
in the resurrection," (en te anastesei,) in the future 
state? Our Saviour answers, " In the resurrection," 
or as it should be rendered, "In the future state, they 
neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as 
the angels of God in heaven. But as touching the 
resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which 
was spoken unto you by God ? " — or, as it ought to 
be rendered, " Have ye not read that which was 
spoken unto you by God, concerning the future exist- 
ence of those who are dead, saying, I am the God of 
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob ? 
God is not the God of the dead but of the living." 



FIFTEENTH CHAPTER OF I. CORINTHIANS, 259 

This passage, (continues Dr. Dwight) were we at any 
loss concerning the meaning of the word anastasis, 
determines it beyond dispute. The proof that there is 
an anastasis of the dead alleged by our Saviour, is 
the declaration of God to Moses, I am the God of 
Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob ; and the irresistible 
truth, that God is not the God of the dead, but of 
the living. The consequence, as every one who reads 
the Bible knows, is that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 
were living at the time this declaration was made. 
Those who die, therefore, live after they are dead ; 
and this future life is the anastasis; which is proved 
by our Saviour in this passage, and which is univer- 
sally denoted by this term throughout the New 
Testament, Nothing is more evident than that 
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, had not risen from the 
dead, (as to their material bodies,) and that the de- 
claration concerning them is no proof of the resurrec- 
tion (of the body.) But it is certain they are living 
beings ; and therefore this passage is a complete proof 
that mankind live after death. " # 

Doubtless, objections can be urged against the view 
we have taken of the text under consideration. It 
may be said, in the first place, that we have forced, if 
not totally misapplied the apostle's language, in 
making the word all mean the same as whole, and 
referring it to an individual, instead of using it as re- 
ferring to individuals. In reply we have only to in- 
quire, what other view can be taken of this text, 
which will not involve the whole subject which the 

# As quoted by Bush, p. 148. 



260 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

apostle undertook to explain, in difficulty and confu- 
sion ? If the position be taken, that he designed to 
say the resurrection of the dead would not take place 
till the end of time, and that then, some or all of 
those who should be found living on the earth would 
be translated to heaven without dying — would he 
not plainly contradict what he had before said, even 
in this same chapter ? In verse 22, he says, " For as 
in Adam all die, even so, in Christ shall all be made 
alive." That is, as all who have borne the mortal con- 
stitution, which God conferred on Adam at his crea- 
tion, must die, even so, shall all who thus die be made 
alive, or be raised in that spiritual constitution of 
which Christ is the representative. If all do not die 
as Adam died, then all will not be made alive in 
Christ; for, "that which thou sowest is not quickened, 
except it die." Or, if it be said, the apostle expected 
that the end of the natural world would take place, 
before he and some of those whom he addressed 
should die; then we answer, his expectations were 
certainly groundless, and he was mistaken in the 
thing whereof he affirmed. But, as we have already 
said, we neither admit that the apostle contradicted 
himself, or that he mistook in relation to the senti- 
ments which he advanced. We should be unwilling 
to indulge such a supposition. There are others 
which, to our mind, are far less objectionable. It is 
admitted by many learned defenders of the proper 
inspiration of the Scriptures, that the sacred writers— 
the authors of the Epistles of the New Testament, 
for example — were not supernaturally directed in rela- 



FIFTEENTH CHAPTER OF I. CORINTHLANS. 261 

tion to the precise language they should employ, in 
communicating revealed truths ; (except in particular 
cases.) The Epistles are written in a serious but very 
familiar style. 

Would it detract, then, from the admitted inspira- 
tion of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, to suppose 
that, by some means, the word pantes, in the fifty- 
first verse of the fifteenth chapter, has taken the 
place ofpantel the variation of a mere syllable. And 
if we are not allowed to suppose that such a varia- 
tion, from precisely what was intended, could follow 
the apostolic pen, may we not suppose his amanu- 
ensis, (for it seems that he employed one or more,) 
or the early copyists of this Letter, wrote pan- 
tes for pante, and that this trifling alteration in ter- 
minating a word has remained uncorrected, if not 
unperceived ; since the former word, pantes, made the 
text read more in favor of a common opinion of the 
church than the latter? This supposition is the less 
objectionable, as it regards the apostle, as being con- 
sistent with himself in what he meant to communi- 
cate. Because, if instead of pantes, we use pante, 
in the text, it will read thus : " Behold, I show you a 
mystery ; we shall not (pante) wholly die, (or sleep,) 
but we shall be wholly changed." That is, the body 
will die and mingle with the dust ; but the spirit will 
not die, but it will be changed in its condition ; it will 
leave the natural body, to be clothed with the spirit- 
ual body. Hence, the apostle was truly inspired, 
though the phraseology of his writings is his own, 
account as we may, for the change of a letter or ^ 

12* 



262 AJN EXAMINATION OF THE 

syllable, in the text in question. Our reverence for the 
Scriptures causes us to prefer the supposition, in this 
case, which leaves Paul uncontradicted by himself.* 
In the. second place, it may be said that this resur- 
rection and change is to take place at the sound of 
the last trump, which in fact indicates that the event 
is yet future. The proper reply to this is, that the 
phrase "last trump" is "a symbolical figure, with 
which the notice of great changes and important 
events is often introduced in prophecy. "f It is used 
here to denote the great and last event of man's 
earthly career, the great change which every individ- 
ual must experience in passing from mortality to im- 
mortality. 

In the third place, it may be said that the word 
sleep, as used by the apostle, and even Christ himself, 
seems to imply something more than the dissolution 
of the body. It seems to indicate that a sort of in- 
sensibility comes over the whole man, when he dies, 

# We would suggest, that the word pantes, translated all, may, 
(as contended by some scholars,) if the connection in which it 
be found require it, be rendered the whole, and refer to a 
single individual, as well as all, and refer to individuals. There 
is an ancient reading found in Griesback's, and copied into 
Greenfield's Greek Testament, as follows: "oi pantes men koim, 
oi pantes de allagesometha." According to this, the passage 
should read thus: The whole {oi pantes) of us shall not die, 
I ut the whole (oi pantes) of us shall be changed. One of the 
old poets has used the word and applied it to himself. He says, 
" I shall not all die ;" by which he meant, that this body would 
die, but his spirit would not. By the same rule, the apostle 
might say, when addressing others, " We shall not all," every 
part of us, "sleep or die, but we shall all," every part of us, be 
changed. 

t Ballou's Notes on the fifteenth chapter of Coi'inthians. UnL 
Review for Apr., p. 166, 



FIFTEENTH CHAPTER OF I. CORINTHIANS. 263 

But I apprehend that it was from a deep feeling of 
truth that the apostle did not mention the name of death, 
but spoke of it as a soft sleep, a gentle and sure transi- 
tion to a better life. And this should always continue to 
be the only idea and feeling of death, in the language 
and in the thoughts of Christians. Natural sleep may 
be considered, in a limited sense, as an emblem, as a 
daily symbol of death. In the natural sleep the ex- 
ternal or bodily portion of man undergoes a sort of 
death, while the intelligent principle still lives within, 
and gains rest and refreshment during the repose of 
the body. And as without sleep we could not enjoy 
the coming light of the morrow ; so without death 
we cannot enjoy that brighter morning which suc- 
ceeds the grave. 

As the fifty-first verse of this chapter is considered 
to be similar, in its import, to the following, we may 
as well introduce it here as any where. 

I. Thessalonians 4 : 13 — 18. But I would 
not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning 
them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as 
others which have no hope. For if we believe that 
Jesus died and rose again, even so them, also, which 
sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him. For this 
we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we 
which are alive, and remain unto the coming of the 
Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For 
the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a 
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the 
trump of God ; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. 
Then we which are alive, and remain, shall be caught 



264 AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

up together with them in the clouds, to meet the 
Lord in the air ; and so shall we ever be with the 
Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these 
words. 

This is confessedly a difficult passage to explain ; 
but still I think it may be laid open, and the truth 
it embraces presented to the view. First, then, let it 
be noticed that the coming of the Lord spoken of in 
the text, had reference, doubtless, to Christ's com- 
ing in his kingdom, which was to take place not far 
from the time of Paul's writing his epistle to the 
Thessalonians. " For this we say unto you, by the 
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and re- 
main unto the coming of the Lord, shall not pre- 
vent them which are asleep." Where, in all the four 
Gospels, do we find a " word of the Lord," which 
authorises us to say that the Son of man is yet to 
appear upon this earth to effect a simultaneous resur- 
rection ? I know of no such word. But we have a 
word in Matt. 24 : 30, 31, which says, " They shall 
see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, 
with power and great glory ; and he shall send his 
angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they 
shall gather together," &c. This coming was to take 
place within a few years after the death of Christ, 
before some of his disciples should die ; and it is the 
same coming spoken of in the text, as is evident from 
the context. I. Thess. 3 : 13, " To the end he may 
establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before 
God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord 
Jesus Christ with all his saints." 5 : 1, 2, " But of 



FIFTEENTH CHAPTER OF 1. COR1JNTHIA1NS. 265 

the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need 
that I write unto you: For yourselves know perfect- 
ly, that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in 
the night." 

Second. Let it be noticed that by the word "sleep," 
and the phrase "sleep in Jesus," we are to under- 
stand natural death, and also that the dead in Christ, 
and those who were said to be sleeping in Jesus, w r ere 
those who had died in the cause of Christ ; who 
had suffered persecution for their faith, and who had, 
on account of Christ, exposed themselves to death. 
We might argue the truth of this from a number of 
considerations; but it will be sufficient to say that 
those, who died previous to Christ's appearance on 
earth, could not have been said to be dead in him. 
and that the Greek preposition en, may be rendered, 
on account of. The phrase would then read thus : 
the dead on account of Christ. Wakefield renders 
it thus: " They loho have died in the cause of 
Christ." 

Third. Let it be remembered that an ill-founded 
notion prevailed to some extent among the Thessalo- 
nians, that all who died previous to the second coming 
of Christ, (which was then supposed by all Christians 
to be near at hand,) would be deprived almost entire- 
ly of the felicities of his kingdom and the benefit of 
his reign, and that, therefore, those who had suffered 
and died in the cause of Christ, had suffered in vain, 
having brought themselves to a premature death, from 
which they would never awake. Hence, those who 
had lost friends, in this way, mourned bitterly over 



266 AN EXAMLNATIOiN OF THE 

their sad fate ; and the apostle's object, in the text, 
was to correct these false notions, to comfort the sor- 
rowful, and to show them that their friends, who had 
died in the cause of Christ, should be raised from the 
dead, and be as well off, as those who should live 
on the earth till the coming of Christ in his kingdom. 
Fourth. Notice the phrase; "them will God bring 
toith him" What does it mean ? Professor Bush 
speaks in relation to it as follows : "Does it imply 
that when our Lord descends from heaven with predic- 
ted pomp and glory, he will be attended by an accom- 
paniment of saints who bad formerly slept in him ? If 
so, the following is perhaps the view which is to be de- 
duced from the apostle's language : When the Lord 
comes at this crises, he shall bring with him his saints 
who have slept in him. But here an objection would 
occur. How can they come with him, unless previous- 
ly they were with him ? And how can they be with 
him unless they shall first have risen for that purpose? 
And how can they have risen without having under- 
gone a resurrection ? And how can they have been 
the subjects of this resurrection, if they are yet repo- 
sing in the dust ? This natural query the apostle pro- 
ceeds to obviate in the sentence that follows : "The 
dead in Christ (i. e., those that have slept in him) 
shall rise first," i. e., shall rise or shall have arisen, 
previous'y. That this is the probable sense of pro- 
ton proteron, in this connection, may be shown by 
an appeal to the usus loquendi m the following pas- 
sages: Matt. 5: 24, "Leave there thy gift before 
the altar and go thy way, first (proton, previously) 



FIFTEENTH CHAPTER OF I. CORINTHIAJNS. 267 

be reconciled to thy brother," &c. Matt. 12 : 29, 
" How can one enter into a strong man's house and 
spoil his goods, except he first (proton, previously) 
bind the strong man ?" Mark 9 : 1 1, 12, " Why say 
the Scribes that Eliasmust,/tr$£ (proton, previously) 
come? And he answered and told them, Elias 
verily cometh first (proton, previously) and restor- 
ed all things." II. Thes. 2: 3, " For that day 
shall not come, except there come a falling away 
first." (proton, previously.) I. Tim. 3: 10, "And 
let these also first (proton, previously) be proved." 
The evidence, therefore, may be considered strong, 
that this is the true sense of the term in this connec- 
tion, and the clause, being thrown in for the purpose 
of meeting a tacit objection, ought to have been en- 
closed in a parenthesis. The whole passage will then 
read thus: "For the Lord himself shall descend 
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the 
archangel, with the trump of God (and the dead in 
Christ shall have previously arisen ;) then we which 
are alive and remain, shall be caught up together 
with them in the clouds (in clouds, i. e. in multi- 
tudes, as the article is wanting,) to meet the Lord 
in the air." The phrase, shall be caught up together 
with them, means not on this view so properly that 
we shall be caught up in company with them — for 
how could they be caught up when they were already 
descending with Christ from heaven ? — but simply, 
we shall be caught up (when we die) to be with 
themP 

This view to me seems correct ; it places the im- 



268 



AN EXAMINATION OF THE 



^ort of the apostle's language plainly before my 
mind. It makes him say, "I would not have you 
ignorant, brethren, concerning the condition and 
prospects of those who are asleep in Jesus, or those 
of your friends who have suffered persecution unto 
death, because of faith in him. I would not have 
you sorrow for your friends who have departed this 
life, as the heathen do, who have no hope of a future 
life ; for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, 
we may be assured that those who sleep in Jesus 
will God bring with him when he comes in his king- 
dom, and they shall occupy their proper places in 
his spiritual realm. For this we say unto you by 
the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and 
remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not go 
before, nor have any advantage over those who are 
asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from 
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archan- 
gel, and with the trump of God, and the dead, by 
or through Christ, having previously arisen, there- 
fore we in our turn, (when we die) shall be raised 
up to meet Christ together with them in the great 
congregation in the heavens ; and so shall we ever 
be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another 
with these words." 

Should any one be disposed to ask, in what sense 
did God bring those, who had suffered and died in 
the cause of Christ, with him when he came in his 
kingdom ? I answer, that they came as Christ came, 
spiritually. He is the sovereign of the Gospel king- 
dom. They are subordinate rulers under him. He 



FIFTEENTH CHAPTER OF 1. CORIJNTHIANS. 269 

reigns spiritually, so do they. His throne is spirit- 
ual, so are theirs ; for they were to have thrones. 
See Matt. 19: 28, and Luke 22: 30; also the re- 
marks on II. Timothy 6 : 5 — 8. 

Now, we appeal to our candid readers, whether 
the above interpretation of the very difficult passage 
in question, does not commend itself to their under- 
standings and hearts, from the fact, that it is reason- 
able, and rescues the text from that labyrinth of 
inconsistencies, and contradictions of the known 
laws of nature, in which it is involved by expositors 
generally ? We are confident that the more care- 
fully and patiently this view of the subject is exam- 
ined, the less objectionable it will appear. May 
we, therefore, solicit an unprejudiced and dispassion- 
ate re-perusal, if any doubts obtrude themselves upon 
any readers, sincerely desirous of believing the whole 
truth ? 



CHAPTER XII. 



CONCLUSION. 



As we have takea the position, and as we think, 
sustained it, that we are to understand the phrase, 
resurrection of the dead, as implying the future life 
of those who die, without any regard to the process 
by which it is attained, and # that death, of itself, 
works no moral change in individual character, it 
may be asked, how we can believe in the final holi- 
ness and happiness of all men, since it is an admitted 
fact that sin and misery are inseparably connected, 
and that so many die in a state of unreconciliation 
and sin. I reply, that my faith in this glorious doc- 
trine rests upon the promises of God, which embrace 
the mission of Christ, who revealed his character as 
being infinite in goodness. 

The apostle Peter commences the first chapter of 
his second epistle with a salutation, indicating the 
relationship existing between him and those whom 
he addressed ; and then suddenly proceeds to state, 
for their consideration, great and important doctrines. 
He says, "Grace and peace be multiplied unto you, 
through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our 
Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto 
us all things that appertain unto life and godliness, 



conclusion, 271 

through the knowledge of him that hath called us 
to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us 
exceeding great and precious promises ; that by these 
ye might be partakers of the divine nature." Here 
are two particulars plainly taught, viz : that a knowl- 
edge of God, impressed upon the mind by the teach- 
ing of Christ, gives or opens to us exceeding great 
and precious promises, and that by these we are 
made partakers of the divine nature. Let us take 
up these two facts in order, and elaborate them as 
thoroughly as we are able in the space which we are 
permitted to occupy. 

The desire for happiness has universally prevailed 
among men. Disappointment has in no case de- 
stroyed it, but rather given it edge. However dark 
the fortunes of to-day, we desire that to-morrow 
may be more propitious, and that brighter scenes of 
felicity maybe continually opening before us. De- 
sire is never satisfied with present good. More is 
demanded. It ever stretches upward to higher 
attainments. It passes the misty bounds of time 
and eagerly searches for happiness in the dark pro- 
founds of eternity. It wants to know, when this 
mingled lot of joy and sorrow is passed, what shall 
be after it. Man always desires that both time and 
eternity may yield him happiness. This same desire 
lived anciently, in those olden times, when men 
carved out with their own hands the gods they wor- 
shipped. Many cries went up from anxious souls for 
information in relation to their destiny, but no certain 
answer was returned, — no satisfaction was given. 



272 conclusion. 

Many called loudly upon the gods to tell them 
whether their desire for eternal felicity should be 
gratified, but the answer was confused, indirect, and 
perplexing. In this dark period, when the agony of 
disappointment was fast settling down upon the souls 
of men, a voice rang out clear and loud from the hills 
and valleys of Judea, virtually saying to the world of 
mankind, your desire for happiness shall be granted. 
Yes, Christ said by the principles he revealed, it is 
provided for in the counsels of heaven. The great 
Author of universal being has so designed it. Its 
bestowment is the great object of his creative work. 
It is the sum of all his promises. And every mind 
that realizes the power of these words, acknowledges 
that it has received exceeding great and precious 
promises. And every one that knows God, as he is 
revealed by Jesus Christ, feels these promises to be 
true and sure, as well as precious ; for by him He is 
shown to be infinite in goodness ; and what object 
could unmingled goodness have in the creation of 
mankind but to confer upon them the greatest possi- 
ble happiness! No other object than this can be 
attributed to Deity, if Christ has revealed the truth 
in relation to his character. And what God hath 
purposed cannot fail. Therefore, as men become 
acquainted with Him through the medium of Jesus, 
they learn that their most ardent desire for happiness 
shall be gratified ; and thus is communicated to thern 
exceeding great and precious promises. Nothing in 
the universe can be more precious to man than such 
promises ; for they are the sum of all his desires. 



COiNCLUSION. 273 

They are great enough and good enough to answer 
every wish. 

We are now to notice the fact, that, by these 
promises, we are made partakers of the divine nature. 
But the question to be settled is, How ? It may be 
answered, that man has always been diligent in 
searching out means to gratify his desire for happi- 
ness ; he has tried almost every thing but the right, 
and in most cases sought for joy where it was not 
to be found. He has imagined its true source to be 
in those things which minister to his bodily appetites 
and the cravings of his animal nature. For the^e 
he has toiled, and exhausted his powers of body, 
and severely taxed his intellectual energies. But 
sensual gratifications have afforded only momentary 
pleasures ; they have never yielded pure and lasting 
happiness ; on the contrary they have often been 
converted into engines of unspeakable misery. It 
is the mind alone that contains the germs of immor- 
tal felicity. The soul alone contains the elements 
of pure and ever enduring happiness. Therefore, to 
purify and elevate man's moral and intellectual 
nature is to open within him mines of unceasing 
joy. This is in accordance with all the teachings 
of Christ ; and man only needs to realize it, to be 
induced to strive for the happiness which flows from 
a heaven-imbued spirit. Show a man where happi- 
ness may positively be found, and he will search 
there for it. Make him feel that it is in moral and 
intellectual excellence, and he will strive with all 
his powers to mount up to them. 



274 CONCLUSION. 

Christ came into the world, not only to demon- 
strate the ultimate happiness of man, but to show 
what will constitute it. He not only gave great and 
precious promises, but he showed that all true happi- 
ness does now and ever will depend upon the de- 
velopment and elevation of that spiritual nature 
which man possesses, and which constitutes him a 
child of God. He showed that heaven's joy does 
not consist of outward grandeur, or music, or sensu- 
ality. But the happiness which will be enjoyed in 
the Paradise of God, and of which we may partake 
here, is the happiness which God himself has in 
the elements of his own nature. He is happy 
because of the moral and intellectual perfections of 
his character. Hence the joy of heaven is, mainly 
and substantially, a moral and a spiritual joy; and 
if the greatest happiness lie in the enjoyment of 
what we most love, then the best definition that can 
be given of the happiness of immortality is, that it 
consists in the enjoyment of moral and intellectual 
excellence, by those whose nature it is supremely to 
love such excellence. To them the most sweet, 
harmonious music is that which rises up in the soul, 
as holiness and truth go vibrating through it; and 
to them the most glorious of all splendor is that 
splendid righteousness with w T hich, among the angels 
and saints and hosts of the redeemed, they are every 
where encircled. This is happiness indeed ; it is 
the happiness of heaven, and in fact it is all the real 
and lasting happiness there is promised in this or 
any other world ; it is the same kind of happkess 



CONCLUSION, 275 

which God enjoys in the supreme, moral, and intel- 
lectual perfections of his nature. And the more man 
is made to realize this, the more will he strive for 
the happiness of a soul pervaded by truth and holi- 
ness. And he shall not strive in vain ; ''for he that 
seeks shall find, and to him that knocks it shall be 
opened. " Such shall find truth, such shall find holi- 
ness, and as they find these they find God — they 
are made partakers of the divine nature. 

Thus it is, that a knowledge of God, through 
Jesus Christ, has given unto us great and precious 
promises, and that by these we are made partakers of 
the divine nature, and introduced into the heavenly 
state, being changed in the spirit of our minds so 
that we are induced to forsake the evil and pursue 
the good. Now, though death in itself has no power 
to work this moral change, — yet a change of cir- 
cumstances and condition, a keener perception of the 
beatitude which truth and love confer upon their 
votaries, and their increased power of operation in 
the government of God, will induce every individual 
of the human family to strive more and more to 
become assimilated to the perfections of the Divine 
nature. 

It is admitted, I believe, by all, that when an indi- 
vidual enters upon the Future Life, his spiritual eyes 
are opened to see the enormity of sin, and the 
exceeding glory of holiness, and that the moral light, 
which radiates from the throne of the Eternal, will 
pour upon him in such overwhelming floods, as to 
preclude the possibility of his mistaking the rights 



276 CONCLUSION. 

and the nature of it. Justice, and mercy, and truth 
and power will stand before the soul, blended in per- 
fect harmony ; and many say, it will be overwhelmed 
by a sense of the perfections of the Divine charac- 
ter and of its own guilt and condemnation. In this 
state it will feel the keenest anguish. It must know 
then, what will positively minister to its happiness 
or misery ; and if it is left to choose freely between 
them, we know that it will as certainly choose the 
good, as we know that a sane man will not put his 
hand willingly into the fire, or drink deadly poison. 
And to say that God will force him to choose the 
evil, is to suggest what is too monstrous to be enter- 
tained for a moment in these days of gospel light. 
And if he does choose the right and pursue it, if 
there is any truth in the Bible, his former iniquity 
shall be blotted out of God's book, and be remem- 
bered no more against him. And to say, that the 
remembrance of sin, which had been repented of and 
forgiven, brings misery to the soul, is what our entire 
experience contradicts. That the individual will be 
inclined to follow the dictates of truth and righteouy- 
ness, is evident from the fact that flesh and blood 
will not go into the immortal world. The body, 
with all its passions, senses and desires, will go and 
mingle with the dust from whence it came ; and as 
nearly all unrighteous desires, and temptations to 
gross wickedness, come to the mind through the 
agency of the body — its "senses and appetites — the 
soul will be delivered from most of its enticements 
to evil when it passes the bounds of death. For 



CONCLUSION. 277 

example, the man addicted to the sin of intemper- 
ance will not in the Future Life have a thirst for 
the intoxicating bowl. Then, the curse of that sin 
will not be found there. Neither money nor the 
need of it will be there, so that the great multitude 
of evils, of which the love of it is the cause, will not 
exist there. The same may be said of all that 
variety of sins, which spring from the desires, pas- 
sions, and imperfections of man's carnal nature. 
The soul, disencumbered from all these, and clothed 
upon with its spiritual body, is prepared to go on to 
perfection. That it will do so, must be evident to 
all who consider what was the object of Christ's 
mission into the world, and what were the princi- 
ples which lay at the foundation of his doctrine, and 
the motives and impulses of all his actions. 

The entire object of Christ's mission into the 
world, according to the New Testament, was to save 
sinners ; and as the sum and substance of the Chris- 
tian religion is but the revelation and embodiment 
of the will and love of God, the conclusion is legiti- 
mate that it was to save all sinners. "In this," saith 
the apostle, "was manifested the love of God to- 
wards us, because that God sent his only begotten 
Son into the world that we might live through him. 
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he 
loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for 
our sins ; and not for ours only, but also for the sins 
of the whole world." I.John 4: 9 — 12. According 
to this apostle, God in love hath purposed a work 
as extensive as the creation of man ; for "the Father 

13 



278 COiNCLUSlOiN. 

sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world." (John 
4 : 14.) Thus the whole Christian system is but an 
exhibition of the Divine will and love, blended in a 
body of harmonious proportions. These two prin- 
ciples, the love and will of God, pervade it, and give 
life and energy to all its operations; they are so 
manifest in all the economy of the gospel as to show 
us that "God was in Christ reconciling the world to 
himself." The gospel also exhibits the fact that in 
this work of reconciliation, God and Christ are one; 
one in purpose and spirit. The testimony, which 
the character, teachings, and death of Christ bear to 
this point, is thrilling and irrefragable. And if the 
spirit which he manifested is found in his followers 
to any considerable extent, to that extent are they 
made one with him and God, and to that same extent 
do they desire to overcome evil with good and to 
deliver their fellows from sin and misery. To live 
in unison with the spirit of God and Christ, we are 
required to love all whom they love, and to strive to 
do them good and not evil. "Love your enemies, 
bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate 
you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and 
persecute you ; that ye may be the children of your 
Father which is in heaven." To do this is to be 
born again, — to be characteristically a child of 
God — to be under the influence of Christianity — 
to be guided by the spirit of God and Christ — to 
be joined with them in one work, one spirit, and one 
purpose. The essence of Christianity, then, is un- 
bounded benevolence; it is an exhibition of unmin- 



COiNCLUSIOJN. 279 

gled love, proceeding with Almighty energy from 
Jehovah, through Jesus Christ, to a sinful world, de- 
scending to the most degraded, embracing the vilest 
sinner in its purposes and operations. Such is the 
central and all prevading principle of the " glorious 
Gospel of the blessed God." 

This principle has but one end and aim, and that 
is, the good of all within the sphere of its operations ; 
and it is very obvious that it can never do its appro- 
priate work without resulting in the salvation of all 
men. This is the object of all its efforts j for this 
it strives and ever will strive so long as it has an 
existence. Universal love must ever seek universal 
good. And it is a fact worthy of all consideration, 
that the men, who have drunk deepest into the pure 
spirit of Christian love, have been the least disposed 
to war against the doctrine of universal salvation ; 
and having a strong desire that it may prove true, 
they are inclined to believe it. Just in proportion 
as the principles of the Gospel, as we have present- 
ed them, are impressed upon their hearts, will they 
desire that all sin and suffering may cease, and that 
peace and grace may reign triumphant throughout 
God's intelligent creation. Such men are always 
instinctively drawn towards faith in a result so de- 
sirable, and they are never disposed to oppose with 
bitterness those who advocate the truth of it. Thus 
it must ever be. Neither education, nor circumstan- 
ces, nor prejudices, can prevent the heart, which is 
thoroughly imbued with the love every where con- 
spicuous in the New Testament, from embracing 



280 CONCLUSION. 

the sentiments of Universalism. If preconceived 
opinions and deep-rooted habits of thought come 
up to oppose, and adduce the sinfulness of man as 
an objection to this doctrine, reason will reply that 
his sinfulness did not so destroy God's love as to 
prevent him from sending Christ into the world to 
save the sinner from his sins. If it be suggested that 
He can never accomplish this because of man's free 
agency, reason again replies that man always acts 
from motives, good or bad; and that the nearest ap- 
parent good always proves to be the strongest motive, 
and therefore governs his choice. Now Christianity 
claims to be that rich inheritance which all desire — 
that panacea which every sinner needs, to heal his 
moral wounds, and restore his disordered soul to 
healthful activity — that spiritual good which will 
bring him into harmony with the divine require- 
ments, and give him that rest and peace which the 
disobedient never feel. Besides, the human mind 
will never rest satisfied with the idea that man's free 
agency will defeat the purposes of the Omnipotent 
Governor of all things. He gave man all the agency 
he possesses ; and it is not in accordance with com- 
mon sense, to suppose that he would bestow upon 
a creature powers which he could not control, and 
then attempt to control them through the agency of 
Jesus Christ. If we now turn to the nice distinc- 
tions which are sometimes made between the love 
of complacency and other kinds of love, and thence 
assume that the love of God and Christ, and of just 
men made perfect, is only a passive sort of benevo- 
lence, which induces them to do nothing more than 



CONCLUSION. 281 

to offer salvation to the sinner, which only has pow- 
er to make them willing he should be saved> facts 
stand in direct opposition to our assumptions ; for 
had God been indifferent about man's salvation, He 
would never have sent Christ to perform such a 
work ; and it would never have been said by an 
inspired apostle, that "God so loved the world that 
He sent His only begotten Son, that we might live 
through him." It was not a spirit of quietism or 
inactivity that devised the plan of salvation, and 
sent Christ to execute it. Such a spirit never in- 
duced his followers to spend their lives and best 
treasures in the work of human improvement. All 
this has been accomplished through the influence 
of deep, strong, active benevolence. This spirit 
guides the councils of God, was the moving power 
of Christ's efforts, and has led all good men in their 
toils for the elevation of degraded humanity. If it 
be said that the demands of the justice of Deity 
must be considered in this connection, and not sac- 
rificed to His love, it may be replied that the de- 
mands of justice do not conflict with those of mer- 
cy. " God is love." Love is his nature, and it must 
not be said that he has any attributes which are at 
war with His nature. Hence,love as much directs the 
rod of judgment, as the dispensation of mercy ; and 
no inflictions will ever be suffered by man that are not 
consistent with the most unbounded benevolence. 
And as God is immutable, his love can never change; 
it will ever be the same active principle, it will al- 
ways seek the good of its objects. He loved man 

13* 



282 CONCLUSION. 

(generic man) when he gave him existence, not be- 
cause of any good which man had done, but because 
love was the essential principle of his own na- 
ture ; and as his nature never changes, he ever will 
love him in time and eternity, with all the intensity 
and ardor that he did when he formed the plan of 
salvation, or sent angels to herald the Messenger of 
the New Covenant into the world. Jesus Christ is 
the same yesterday, to-day and forever; his love 
towards man is the same, and he will ever seek his 
salvation with as much solicitude as when " He 
gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due 
time ; " for " He must see of the travail of his soul 
and be satisfied." It must be so, or else God and 
Christ must change, and the fundamental principles 
of the Gospel pass away as the vapor before the 
rising sun. Should this ever occur, the moral gov- 
ernment of God would be dissolved, and the re- 
quirements and obligations of Christianity proved 
abortive, and the whole Gospel system be but a 
fleeting shadow, without any foundation in the na- 
ture of things. No supposition, however, can be 
more absurd than this. But we forbear ; enough 
has already been said to prove that the essential 
principles of Christianity, as presented in the New 
Testament, can never accomplish their object with- 
out bringing every soul into harmony with the divine 
government ; or, which is the same thing, saving 
them with an everlasting salvation. This fact is 
such as the fundamental principles of the gospel must 
work out, if allowed to have their full and legiti- 
mate operations. 



CONCLUSION. 283 

A question, of no small importance, may here pre- 
sent itself, and call for especial attention. It may be 
enquired whether our conduct in this life will not have 
an influence upon our future life ; and whether there 
will not be different degrees of happiness there, on 
account of the different ways in which men have im- 
proved or misimproved their privileges here. Noth- 
ing has yet been advanced contradicting this state- 
ment, and, doubtless, much can be said in favor of it. 
There is no danger, at least, in taking the position , 
that as is the measure of improvement or moral and 
mental culture, so is the measure of true and perma- 
nent happiness, and always will be through all the 
stages of our existence. We repeat, then, no pure 
and lasting felicity can spring from sensualism ; on 
the contrary, all pure and permanent joy is the in- 
heritance of that soul, which lives and advances in 
the divine life. Pamper the body as much as you 
may, only momentary sensations will be experien- 
ced. Draw upon all its sources of pleasure and you 
will find them short-lived and unsatisfying ; and if 
you tax them to a certain extent, they cease to yield 
pleasure; tax them beyond this and they will become 
sources of excruciating misery. But the happiness 
which rises up in a soul so exercised by truth and 
love, as to be continually advancing to a higher 
spiritual life, never grows dull, nor changes to pain. 
Now, with the fact in view that only that individual, 
who developes by cultivation his spiritual powers, 
enjoys pure and lasting happiness, it is easy to 
be seen that a person might so neglect these 



284 CONCLUSION. 

powers as to be incapable of any happiness, save 
that transitory pleasure which is the result of pam- 
pering the appetites and passions of the body. Now 
divest such of their bodies, give them spiritual 
bodies, and usher them into an existence where no 
sensual gratification or pleasure can ever be experi- 
enced, and how much positive happiness are they 
capable of enjoying ? But very little, though they 
may have determined to abandon the wrong and 
pursue the right. It is one thing to be saved from 
sin, and another, and quite a different thing, to be 
capable of a high degree of happiness through moral 
and intellectual culture. Freedom from sin and mis- 
ery does not confer positive happiness. An insect 
may be guilty of no moral wrong, and consequently 
suffer no pain, yet be susceptible of no happi- 
ness, save what arises from the exercise of his phys- 
ical powers. Here is an infant, and a man whose 
spiritual nature is well developed. Does any one 
suppose that the enjoyment of the child is equal to 
that of the man ? By no means. Why, then, should 
it be supposed that their enjoyment will be equal in 
the future world ? As flesh and blood, or the body, 
cannot inherit the kingdom of God — cannot go 
into the immortal world, all happiness must of course 
be of a spiritual nature ; and it follows as a natural 
consequence that he,who has elevated and expanded 
his spiritual powers the most, will be the happiest. 
In this world, two individuals may be delivered 
from the impediments and obstacles which lay in the 
pathway of improvement, at the same time, and yet 



CONCLUSION. 285 

not be equal in their attainments, and consequently 
not be equally susceptible of enjoyment, though 
neither of them are subjects of pain. The one has 
employed every means within his reach to advance 
in the divine life, and even turned the obstacles he 
has had to encounter into instruments of moral hus- 
bandry, while the other has neglected all means of 
improvement, and, of course, he cannot receive the 
inheritance of him who has labored. So two individ- 
uals, of equal advantages in this life, may enter upon 
the future life at the same time, and at the same time 
be delivered from all checks and hindrances to im- 
provement, yet their progress in the divine life may 
have been very unequal, hence their happiness must 
be unequal. It may be said, in reply to this, that the 
condition of all will be made equal, the moment they 
enter upon the resurrection state. Where is the evi- 
dence of it ? Certainly it is not to be found in reason 
or Scripture. But suppose it to be true. How shall 
it be accomplished ? Shall the infant, the idiot, the 
ignorant and degraded, be suddenly advanced to the 
condition of those whose moral and intellectual pow- 
ers have been largely developed by cultivation ? Or 
shall the latter be brought down to a level with the 
former ? In either case, there is no proof that this 
equality will continue very long ; unless it be proved 
that the condition of every individual will be fixed for 
eternity, and the law of progress suspended or repeal- 
ed ; for, allow them their several capacities for im- 
provement, and there is no telling what inequalities 
there may be in their advancement, even under the 



286 CONCLUSION. 

same circumstances and government ; for there is no 
knowing what disabilities sin may have imposed upon 
the law of progress. If it be said that all will be 
made equal and fixed in one condition, without the 
power to retrograde or advance, it may be replied that 
man is an active being ; his mind was never made to 
be wholly, at rest, or confined within one circle of 
thoughts and ideas. It must be permitted to range 
upward and onward without bound or limit, or it will 
sicken and become the centre of disease and misery, 
as would the body were it deprived of exercise and 
fresh air. The soul was not constituted to be happy 
in confinement, though surrounded by all the outward 
grandeur and splendor of the universe. Liberty and 
progress are its elements — cut off from these, it is 
discontented and miserable. Its life and joy consists 
in striving to rise higher and higher in those perfec- 
tions which belong to the Divine Nature. This is 
what Christ meant when he said, " Be ye perfect even 
as your Father in Heaven is perfect." Human per- 
fection consists in the free and harmonious unfolding 
and exercise of all our faculties. This is the supreme 
command of duty ; and virtue, the performance of 
duty, is nothing else than the most earnest striving 
after perfection. The faculties of the body, of the 
mind, of the intellect, the affections, and the active 
powers of man, require constant and strenuous exer- 
cise, without which there is no health nor growth, 
either for the body or the mind. With these facts in 
view, it is absurd to talk about a Heaven of happi- 
ness, where there is neither progress nor activity for 



CONCLUSION. 287 

the soul, nor means of adding to its stock of divine 
wisdom. 

Casting our eyes back over the course we have pur- 
sued in this chapter, we readily perceive that this life 
has a purpose — that God placed us in this world for 
a higher object than to minister wholly to the passions 
and appetites of the body. God has bestowed upon 
us powers and faculties, which are to survive the dis- 
solution of the body, which contain in themselves the 
elements of all the true happiness we now or ever 
shall enjoy, which will yield their fruits only through 
development and cultivation ; and the cultivation of 
which is left in our own hands. God does not do for 
us what we can do for ourselves. He has given us 
the sun, and the rain, and the prolific soii, but he does 
not plough, nor sow, nor reap. This work he left for 
us to do ; and we must do it or starve. And He has 
given us the seed, the rich and nourishing earth, 
sends down upon it the fertilizing dews and showers 
of heaven, and sheds upon it the warmth of the life- 
giving sun, that we may plant and cultivate, and in 
time of harvest reap an abundance for our physical 
support and comfort ; so has he made the human soul 
but little lower than the angelic spirits, and placed it 
in this state of trial and discipline, and surrounded it 
by many objects to call forth all its powers and capaci- 
ties, and shed upon it the light of revelation, that as 
a soul, an intelligent and immortal spirit, it might 
grow continually in moral and intellectual excellence. 
The great object of our life, then, is to educate our 
souls, to develope those powers of mind which ally us 



288 CONCLUSION. 

to God and Jesus Christ, to angels and just men made 
perfect; therefore we should employ life and all 
things belonging to it, in making ourselves wiser and 
better. For this most glorious of all purposes, did 
God place us in this rudiment state. If we disregard 
this purpose we do it to our own injury. We must 
also cherish the virtues of the Gospel, till their prac- 
tice becomes delightful and heaven-inspiring. Con- 
stant prayer must be made, that the mental vision may 
be kept clear to descry the most distant of her 
graces, and that the soul may be constantly exer- 
cised with an unfeigned love of them. We must 
persevere in seeking till we find, and in asking till 
we receive, and in knocking till it is opened unto us. 
The acquirement may now appear obscure and distant; 
yet if we commence with an inflexible, determined 
spirit, storing up in our souls the humble elements of 
Christian excellence, and constantly press towards a 
higher life, we shall rise from joy to joy, finding fresh 
and crystal fountains of celestial glory as we go ; and 
drinking deeper and deeper into the Divine Nature, 
find a confirmation of the declaration that God is a 
rewarder of all such as diligently search for him ; 
and be enabled to say truly, that the Spirit of God 
witnesseth with our spirits that we are indeed his 
children ; and hereby know we, that we are in him, 
even by the spirit which he has given us. 



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